#she’s nice to shinobi she doesn’t know and he’s like why aren’t you calculating how to kill them

[halfamask]

Yes Kakashi ignored Sakura and was a bad sensei to her but my silly little take on it is that he simply didn’t know what to do with someone who came from a normal family and was taught manners and was otherwise a well adjusted member of society.

Like he gets Naruto and Sasuke’s angst and darker impulses and anger to an extent and why they want to be shinobi and he sees this girl who comes into training with a smile bc her mom’s making her favorite for dinner and she and her dad made up after an argument and he just like. Short circuits

[stealinghero]

Any headcanons on the pasts of some of the characters? Like there is the historical stuff but like, there isn't a ton of information that I could find on certain characters like Magoichi (cuz woman lol) and Kasuga (cuz never existed) and Kojuro (since multiple people carried the name I guess?). Anyway, any headcanons on anyone would be fun if you want to add any additional people :)

Ohh, general headcanons are always great!! I’ll just write down what comes to mind! I tried to include their past if possible. (Edit: I won’t tag this post with very individual, because there are simply too many!)

It’s under a cut because this will be freaking HUGE!!

Akechi Mitsuhide:

- he opted for his scythes because his wrists aren’t strong enough for fighting with a sword. he usually uses long weapons and likes the aesthetic of a scythe, cutting down people like corn because they are just as “worthless”.

- his hair colour is an effect of an genetic dysfunction and has been white/grey from his early childhood on.

- he is allergic to peaches.

- his past is a mystery and he will rather die than tell anyone about it (he acutally had a great upbringing with lots of love, but when his mother was killed, he changed)

Chosokabe Motochika:

- has a pet parrot and loves it to bits. Actually it’s a family he cares for and raises on his own.

- his normally black hair is bleached and styled to make him look more like a demon, he once saw a sailor do this with a face paint of a skeleton. Young Motochika was so impressed (and afraid) that he copied the style. On special occasions he still paints his face like a skull.

- he can juggle but not stand on one leg.

- if he gets a partner, his crew has to approve them first before he considers dating

- he fled from home because of all the responsibilities and made his crew his family. That’s why he’s the big brother and not their father figure, he still detsts his own father.

Date Masamune:

- he is afraid of chicken. Nothing too serious but he will never hold one or be close to one if he can opt out. As a kid he got pecked bloody by a swarm of them and he never got over it

- he loves to prank Kojuro and will get hit and scolded for it. Still he does it, especially if Kojuro is stressed to make him laugh.

- he doesn’t like the most types of sweets and dislikes honey. But he can bite into a lemon and keep a straight face.

- he upholds traditions and visits the shrines of his province on a regular basis. The priests know not to bother him with bad omens as he might be traditional but not really religious.

- he has a knack for learning languages and can imitate most dialects of Japan.

Fuma Kotaro:

- he is the funniest guy alive!! This man can tell the best jokes and keep a straight face while doing so.

- he has a small family that he loves to bits. Whatever his parents want from him, he will do it.

- he was raised strict (outside) and very beloved (inside), making it easy for him to think outside of the box. He follows orders on his own terms and this is what makes him dangerous.

- his upbringing is his guideline for leading his men. He will acknowledge those who follow his orders and will punsh those who don’t. He’s always fair and tries to find the best result for all included

Honda Tadakatsu:

- he can speak if he wants. But often he thinks his opinion is too insignificant to make public so he remains silent.

- to be honest: he is the best singer. He has a nice deep voice and will often hum or sing melancholic songs.

- he trains up to 20 hours per day to keep his body and soul at its peak condition. His training consists of lifting weights, sparring with sword and bare hands, meditation, reflection of his past flaws.

- he is a bit vain and loves to hear even the mightiest warlords praise him, so he gives his all to maintain his status

- he isn’t too fond of Ieyasu’s way of thinking of friendship and peace as he is a man of war. But he would never defy Ieyasu.

Ishida Mitsunari:

- grew up as an orphan and was taken in by Toyotomi’s family. That’s the reason he’s loyal to Hideyoshi. He sees him as a brother (even if Mitsunari doesn’t think himself as a Toyotomi)

- he uses a tachi because his shoulders aren’t the strongest although he has a good core strength. He needs the length to deliver fast and heavy strikes using the momentum of his sword.

- he loves math and can calculate even huge sums in his head

- he has a stutter that gets worse when he’s aggravated and it takes a lot of willpower and concentration in order not to show it too much

Kasuga:

- in order to live amogst men a woman has to be tough and Kasuga went through an even harsher training than her male colleagues, making her harder than she looks

- but inside she is a very girlish girl and wants to be a princess. Uesugi is the perfect prince for this daydream and that’s the main reason she stays with him even if she knows she has no chance.

- she is as deadly as any Shinobi and she hates if her colleagues make fun of her because she shows more skin/curves without realizing this is also a form of camouflage to lull the enemy into a relaxed and trusting state.

- she grew up without parents (as most Shinobi do) and has no desire to meet them. She hates them for abandoning her

- she sees Sasuke as an annoying little brother. Other than him she doesn’t have any ties.

Katakura Kojuro:

- at 5 years old he climbed a tree because of a dare and had to be saved by Masamune’s father because he was too afraid to come down. He still has fear of heights and a horse is the highest he can get without being anxious.

- in his youth he broke every bone in his body at least once. Often there were multiple fractures at once. He was lanky and clumsy until his early 20s and people loved to compare him to a newborn foal, some old people still call him like that, embarrassing him

- he has a good medical knowledge and might have become a doctor if not for his duty. he still is the number one in caring for Masamune and only if he deems it impossible, he will call for a real doctor. Without knowing this, people tend to think Masamune’s wounds heal by themselves and he only needs assistance when near death.

- he is an open book to read if there are strong emotions. Normally everyone at court knows how he feels by just looking at him. if needed he has a really good pokerface, but doesn’t use it very often. He simply doesn’t care.

- his nickname at court (behind his back) is Raba (translating to mule) because he is stubborn and a workaholic. Some even joke about other similarities between them, but these are the most common.

Maeda Keiji & Toshiie & Matsu: 

- Keiji found his little pet Yumekichi on a market in Kyoto where he was sold with his half-dead mother. Despite Keiji’s efforts to save the mother she died a few days later, but Yumekichi got better and sees Keiji as his family.

- Keiji is afraid of an angry Matsu and opts to run away from her rather than from Toshiie

- he might seem a bit carefree and stupid sometimes and he admits he’s not the brigthest. But he’s smart enough to survive with his lifestyle in this time and is pretty proud of it.

- Toshiie worries a lot about Keiji and wants him home because of this. He couldn’t bear to lose Keiji who he sees more as a brother than a nephew.

- he is alway asking for more food of Matsu because he’s afraid that one day he might not be able to eat her food anymore. It’s like he thinks he can “save” the taste of it in his brain forever.

- In her youth Matsu couldn’t cook. She learned it for Toshiie and is always on the search for new ideas and recipes to surprise him with.

- she has strong motherly feelings for Keiji with results in her scolding him more often than Toshiie despite Keiji being only a bit younger than she is

Matsunaga Hisahide:

- he grew up without his parents caring too much. But they were rich and he from early on learned that money IS power. People can be paid to like you, to kill for you, to die for you.

- there are many legends about his fight with Nobunaga and both of the most common are actually true. Nobunaga let him live, thinking he was “interesting” but only because Hisahide matched his strength and power, almost equalling the Demon King.

- he is stronger than he looks and is prepared for the day when money won’t hold his army down. he’s a skilled fighter with almost every weapon but he dislikes the guns Nobunaga’s so fond of. They have no style, he thinks.

- what is in his possession will remain there. he will defend his collection with everything he has. This man can go toe to toe with the biggest warlords of his time and he’s not afraid to demonstrate his power over a thing he had almost forgotten. It’s HIS and he will kill for it (or make someone do it)

- he is the most intelligent of them and often ruthless, making him an enemy nobody wants to have.

Mori Motonari:

- if he would live in modern times, he would be the bullied nerd with thick rimmed glasses and suspenders

- he grew up in a very protected house without too much care and love, making him self-sufficient. Paired with his intelligence that almost equals that of Matsunaga, he is a terrible foe if there wasn’t a huge mistake in his plans: emotions.

- he struggles to keep his army in check simply because he can’t lie like a Matsunaga or Oda. he will tell his soldiers bluntly that they are worthless to him when they are defeated. Strangely this statement makes him a good leader who will risk much to gain much. His men follow him because they most often are rewarded for their wounds or lost comrades.

- he has a problem with emotions and doesn’t understand sarcasm. That’s a reason why he hates Motochika so much. But this makes him honest to a fault, too. if someone asks his opinion he will answer truthfully, sometimes making this person change plans.

Oda Nobunaga & Oichi:

- those two are the most identical siblings after twins, even if it might seem different on the outside.

- Nobunaga cares for his sister and doesn’t want her hurt and Oichi is more of an evil mastermind than she appears to be.

- from early on those two spent lots of time together, playing pranks on the retainers and their own family. They grew up in an actually caring family making people wonder sometimes how they became like this when they had grown up.

- the motives are most often pride and an arrogance/belief everything should be theirs. Even the “little princess” Oichi defended her dolls with claws and teeth if she had to.

- while the Lady Oichi hides her true ambition she sometimes is jealous of her brother who shows them to everyone and succeeding with it. She hates him for being a man whereas she’s just a woman to be played as he wants.

- he had many options to marry his sister to but he chose not the best one but the one that would care the most for her. He would never admit that.

- they both have emotions and those are very strong but most of the times they are not controlled or even guided and most often end in bloodshed.

Otani Yoshitsugu:

- with his childhood a miserable time for him because of his disease (leprosy) he hid himself behind books, learning about the world, the history of it and other useful things

- he isn’t the smartest but one of the most versatile to use his resources, making him flexible in any given situation

- he is a great strategist with his vast knowledge and by being able to get in someone’s thinking, he is able to differ his strategy for any opponent. He has a great work of spies and often knows how a lord will act

- he loves being outside in the sun. His bandages are a hindrance to him but he doesn’t dare to take them off. He likes to sit in the sun for hours, reading.

Saika Magoichi:

- she grew up in the same village as Motochika, knowing him since childhood

- as an orphan living on the streets, she tried her best to find something close to a family. She reufed Motochika’s offer to join his crew, wanting to be independent

- she never trained enough to fight with a sword but can use a Tanto quite skillfully. When she heard about guns, she begged Motochika to get her two. Since then she was fascinated by those things.

- while she actually used one of the guns, she completely disassembled the other, learning all about the mechanics involved. by now she can not only build them but also has her own mixture of gunpowder thats’s a bit more explosive than the usual.

- she was officially invited to have a talk with Nobunaga and they remained friends until he died. They exchanged various types of guns and Nobunaga even invited her to join his army as an advisor because of her extensive knowledge of firearms.

Sanada Yukimura:

- his allround emotion is determination and happiness, often getting on the nerves of people around him with his seemingly undisturbed energy. This is only a facade he keeps up in order not to think too much about things he can’t change.

- he admires Kojuro as a man he can never be and often tries to talk to him about his views on the world, hoping to learn a lot from it that would allow him to grow not only as a soldier but as a man

- despite the differences of rank and class, he thinks of Sasuke as his brother and is closer to him than to his actual brother Nobuyuki

- he is not afraid to admit his faults and does his best to learn how to be better. But sometimes it frustrated him not being able to be a good person in his own eyes

Sarutobi Sasuke:

- contrary to his beloved legend of being raised by monkeys, he grew up as an orphan in a village of Shinobi until he was 10.

- he hasn’t many people he really trusts but is relieved if he can rely on Kasuga or Takeda (sometimes even Sanada)

- he loves to spend his free time fishing and is quite good at spearfishing.

- he wants to stay mysterious and doesn’t share much of his own history but his body is almost without a scar while his name is often whispered with fear, showing what kind of fighter he is

- he doesn’t talk much about himself mainl because ther is nothing to talk about. He sees himself as a bit boring and his life is filled with his duties. Sometimes he envies Kojuro but has to admit he would’ve strangled Masamune years ago.

Takeda Shingen:

- he resents his own father and wanted to be a better father to Yukimura, thus their strange relationship despite being Lord and General.

- he likes tigers and had at least one as pet throughout his life, spanning the same tiger family over generations.

- he’s very conflicted about his rivalry with Kenshin. He respects the man as a fellow warrior and even wants Yukimura to be a bit like him, but deep down he never got over the fact that Uesugi killed his younger brother. he doesn’t know what he should do and this is why he stays the same: fighting with him without too many emotions.

- he is fond of horses and is a skillful breeder. His horses are very renowned as the best warhorses. He wants to survive this in the future to remind the following generations of him being a gentle animal friend and not only the warlord (even if he is very proud of his victories)

Takenaka Hanbei:

- in his childhood and youth he was a normal kid, growing up in a normal family. He was never the best or the worst but he got bored of it as soon as he heard of the “adventures” of Nobunaga.

- he always was a quick thinker, not overly intelligent but flexible and in this way outwitted whole armies, gaining him a name and reputation to use for his rise to the top.

- he never wanted to be a warlord. He swore himself that he would be the best adviser/strategist because he thought he would be worth more like this in any fight for survival. Every warlord needs an advisor, right?

- his loyalty for Toyotomi is mostly an act. He hates brutes without brains as it is intelligence that wins a war and not strength alone. This is a reason he respects people like Motonari or Kojuro.

Tokugawa Ieyasu:

- as a kid he lived with dangerous surroundings. One wrong word could mean war and Ieyasu was right between the conflicted sides, making him yearn for bonds and friends he could trust.

- normally he is outgoing but he often still sees the world as black and white, making it hard to discuss things with him in a calm manner. Luckily he tends to flare up quickly and also come down as fast, being his old self

- behind his smiles there is a machine working day and night. he has his goals and will not rest before getting there, sometimes making it hard for people to follow him. He doesn’t understand that fact and tends to think they are against him, resulting in various consequences

- he wants friends he can trust but he will never trust somebody. he did it in the past and he was left down by these friends, making his walls harder and thicker to get through

- his personality would be somewhere between a tantrum throwing child in the sweets aisle and a ruthless dictator, solely depending on his mood.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi:

- with his past an open secret he has no remorse in being like he is, seeing no other option anyway.

- being a ruthless warlord doesn’t mean being without emotions and he still cares a lot for his army. He knows a few soldiers by name and will often wander around the camp, asking here and there if everything is alright or something is needed.

- he doesn’t have friends anymore and the friendliest he can get with someone is by calling them “advisor”, even if he’s not bound to listen to their words. he doesn’t trust anyone around him and this makes him successful in leading an army, not trusting the enemy will make the same mistake twice or behave “as always”.

- he doesn’t know if he should kill Matsunaga for changing him or be thankful. He normally tries to stay away from him as far as possible. He might even command his army to take a detour to avoid Hisahide’s territory.

Uesugi Kenshin:

- he loves to fuck with people’s thoughts to make them think they are smarter/more powerful/faster than him, only for him to strike them down as easy as he can. This is the truth behind his title and his favourite saying about it is: “I can be an generous god. Or a cruel one. It depends solely on you.”

- there are no feelings involved, not with Kasuga, not with Shingen. He simply enjoys his power over them, using them as he likes to amuse himself. At least this is when he’s not defending his territory. Then he will be ruthless and strike quick, not caring much about alliances or promises.

- despite being like that he truly stands up for what he believes, only because he thinks whatever he believes is the right thing. he doesn’t care much about any other viewpoints and can be called stubborn at it.

- yet he has a certain respect for every living thing, even if some humans are seen as cockroaches by him. he would never start a war without reason and even then he acknowledges every death and every wound, making him a beloved leader by his men.

[thefreckledone]

Satori (Between the Lines) - Part 12

“Are you sure we won’t get into trouble?” Sakura whispers, looking around furtively.

“You don’t have to whisper, Sakura,” Torune says. Sakura can’t tell for certain, but she gets the distinct feeling that he is rolling his eyes at her. “These are the Aburame grounds and you’re walking with the two prospective clan heads.”

Sakura glances between him and Shino for a moment, still keeping to the shadows as they plow forward. Something feels illicit about this adventure and Sakura really doesn’t want to get either of them into trouble. “Both of you are prospective clan heads?” Sakura asks, surprised. “It isn’t automatically Shino as an only child?”

“That’s otou-sama’s doing,” Shino says, trailing a branch idly along the dirt path in inscrutable patterns as they walk. “He wanted to give us both the opportunity to try our hand at clan head should we wish it. Toki-oba shared clan head duties with otou-sama while she lived. Torune and I may do something similar.” Shino shrugs. “Otou-sama is open to whatever decision we make.”

“That’s kind of him. How does the rest of the family feel?” Sakura says, thinking about the strife and tension within the many branches of the Haruno clan. Her parents fought long and hard for her to pursue her dreams, framing it within the way it could benefit the clan as a whole. Hers is a selfish dream but her parents made sacrifices to see it come true.

“Oh, they don’t mind,” Torune says, a sly smile creeping across his face. “Truthfully, they’re relieved that there are two candidates.”

Sakura scrunches her nose. “And why’s that?”

“Because they know the position of clan head is more hassle than it’s worth,” Shino says, voice deepening in an imitation of words oft-spoken by Shibi.

Sakura bursts into delighted laughter, clapping in approval. Shino ducks his head a bit shyly, still unused to Sakura’s enthusiasm. He welcomes it though, his chest lightening with every peal of laughter that Sakura makes. “Does Shibi-oji really say that?”

“It’s true,” Torune says, sidling up beside Sakura. “He usually only says it after a long day of council meetings. Shibi-oji has to deal with a lot of pompous village leaders who ‘spew enough hot air to humidify and sustain a greenhouse for centuries.’”

Sakura giggles at Torune’s impression of Shibi, just as scarily accurate as Shino’s. “Your clan is so different from any other one that I’ve ever encountered. There’s a strange lack of arrogance.”

“Hard to be arrogant when the village considers your entire clan a band of weirdos,” Torune says. Once, a statement like this and the hurt behind it would have stirred up his hive. Now, his insects remain silent.

Nevertheless, Sakura reaches out and grabs his hand, squeezing. “The village and my extended family call me a freak. We can be freaks and weirdos together.”

Torune smiles at her, hurt melting away in the face of her earnestness. Even though anger surges at the thought of people bullying Sakura and calling her names, he tamps it down, focusing on the moment. He laces his fingers with hers, bumping her shoulder. “Sounds good to me.”

Shino bites his lip, feeling like an outsider as Sakura and Torune regard each other quietly. They seem to have a language all their own, unknowable to anyone but the two of them. He turns his eyes away from them, focusing on the designs he is drawing with his stick.

“Shino?”

Shino glances up, surprised to see Sakura stretching out her free hand toward him, wriggling her fingers in an inviting fashion.

“C’mon,” she says, brow puckering slightly. “Freaks and weirdos stick together, right?”

“Right,” Shino says, dropping his branch and hastily taking her hand. The loneliness of feeling left out drops away as he grabs her hand, tangible evidence of their connection. Sakura is his friend and he is hers; that is a fact. He shakes himself of his fears, returning to the here and now. “What were we speaking of?”

Sakura’s face crinkles in thought. “The Aburame being a humble clan?”

“Right,” Shino says. “As Torune so put it, we aren’t exactly the best loved clan in the village. We’re seen as something of a fringe clan, mysterious and strange to both civilians and shinobi alike.” He huffs. “For some reason, most people are creeped out by insects and by us in turn.”

“But the clan is also highly respected because of our proven caliber as shinobi,” Torune says, picking up the thread. “We’ve produced some of the best, most consistent, and most precise shinobi of Konoha. Our clan was responsible for removing the threat that the Kamizuru clan posed Konoha during our conflict with Iwa. So we’re well-established with tons of connections inside and outside of the village.”

“So no one questions us when we act strangely because they already see us as strange,” Shino says.

“And no one tries to mess with us or the way that we do things because we’re too respected and intimidating,” Torune finishes.

“That sounds-” Sakura trails off, thinking hard for a moment. From their words, it seems that both boys have complete control over determining the direction of their futures. To Sakura, whose future has been more or less decided since birth, be it by her clan or by her country, it sounds terrifying. “That sounds untethered.”

Shino hums. “It’s nice because no one in the family really cares about politics. They’re all focused on their own personal projects, things like crossbreeding insects, finding new breeds entirely, growing plants, and developing medicines.”

“It frustrates the Uchiha and Hyuga to no end,” Torune says, snorting in laughter. “We’ve been around as long as they have, turning out shinobi just as lethal if not more so, yet we never try to play the game of politics.” He shakes his head. “Both Fugaku-san and Hiashi-san have approached Shibi-oji to try and get him to throw his sway behind them during council meetings on certain issues. He never agrees.”

“A life without politics,” Sakura says, contemplating the words as she tastes them on her tongue. She can barely imagine it. Since she can remember, Sakura has been involved in some realm of politics, from a prospective clan head in merchant circles to a civilian-born training to be a shinobi. Who would she be without the constant maneuvering? Certainly, Sakura does not think her sense of self would be as forged and refined as it is now. She was and still is tested in the fires of challenge and near constant frustrations and setbacks. “It sounds...peaceful.”

“It can be,” Torune says, stopping abruptly. “We’re here.”

Sakura looks around, seeing just a continued expanse of the forest. “Where?”

Shino and Torune laugh, pointing upward in unison.

Sakura directs her gaze skyward, seeing only a leafy blanket created among the branches. She looks back at them, wondering if they’re teasing her. “I don’t see anything.”

“That’s alright, Sakura,” Torune says, picking up on the uncertainty in her voice. “Look up once more.”

Sakura does as directed and Torune’s hive begins to buzz. The leaves above them begin to shake and furl, revealing a structure high in the trees. Sakura gasps as an entire building is revealed among the trees, with bridges connecting from one tree to the next. Sakura does notice one little problem. “How do we get up there?”

The cousins give her sheepish looks. “Well, technically people are supposed to tree walk to get up there,” Shino says.

“But since Shibi-oji doesn’t like us using chakra outside the home-”

“And we haven’t trained in tree walking,” Shino interrupts, knowing that Torune is trying to seem a bit more impressive to Sakura.

Torune gives Shino a dirty look. “And we haven’t actually trained in tree walking,” Torune grumbles. “We have a ladder we climb.”

He leads Sakura over to one of the large trees, placing his hand on one of the gnarled knots of the trunk. He indicates to another a bit above it. “It can be climbed using these raised bumps on the tree. There are also a few shallow indentations for hand grooves. See?”

Sakura nods, mouth going dry as she contemplates the building above them. It suddenly seems much further away than she initially calculated. “That’s...that’s pretty innovative.”

“Otou-sama always looks out for us,” Shino says. “I’ll climb first and you can follow. Make sure to watch where I place my hands and feet.”

Sakura watches intently as Shino scales the tree deftly, swinging from hand hold to hand hold. It seems something outside the realm of a civilian child’s capabilities, but it is well within the purview of an Academy student. Sakura fidgets slightly as she observes Shino’s trajectory, something within her panicking the higher he gets. She swallows against her dry throat as Shino reaches the top and beckons down to her.

“Your turn!” he calls, placing his arms and chin on the railing of the tree walkway.

Sakura approaches the tree, rubbing her sweaty hands against her pants. She is no stranger to tree climbing; in fact, before she made friends, it was the main activity she performed. When Ami called her names, the first source of comfort she turned to was climbing into a tree for shelter.

So why does she feel so anxious?

Sakura readies herself to climb, placing one foot into the lowest hold to leverage herself up. Yet, when she maneuvers her hands into place, she notices their fine trembling. She takes a deep breath, trying to center herself, to release all of her pent-up energy. Sakura draws on the techniques that Shibi has taught her in meditation, but calm remains beyond her grasp.

A warm, ungloved hand presses over hers, drawing it away from the rough bark.

Sakura opens her eyes, meeting her reflection in Torune’s goggles. She can see the fear in her own eyes, as the remembrance of the terror of freefall overwhelms her. Her shaking extends up her hands to her shoulders as Torune envelops her in a hug.

“I have you,” Torune murmurs fiercely against her ear, wrapping his arms tight around her. He wishes he could protect her from the dangers of the world; keep her safe from anything that would dare to threaten her. “No one is going to take away your control here. You can climb the tree by hand, by chakra, or even not at all. No one is going to force you to bend to their will.”

Sakura nods into Torune’s shoulder, breathing thickly through her nose. The scents of sweat and cardamom fill her nostrils, reinforcing Torune’s presence for her. The pressure of his hug, his solid, calm reassurance both verbally and physically, grounds her. Sakura exhales deeply, eyes hot with tears as her heartbeat begins to return to baseline. She reaches up, clinging to Torune in turn.

“Thank you,” she whispers hoarsely against his shoulder.

“Of course,” Torune replies, carding a hand through her hair in what he hopes is a soothing motion. From his faint lingering memories, Torune thinks that his mother used to comfort him in a similar manner.

After several long, restorative moments, Sakura pulls away from Torune, pressing a clumsy kiss to Torune’s cheek. “Thank you, Torune.”

“Any time,” he replies, a pleased flush filling his cheeks. “What would you like to do?”

Sakura turns her attention back to the tree and to Shino waiting patiently for them high above. She smiles, brows furrowing in determination. “I’m going to climb. My own way.”

Torune grins at her, gently wiping away the tear tracks on Sakura’s face. “I know you will. I’ll come up after you.”

Sakura nods, stepping out of Torune’s embrace to square up with the tree once more. She reaches into herself, drawing on her meditation techniques to access her pool of chakra. She pulls the chakra down toward her feet, smiling at the tickling sensation that flows into her toes.

She begins her ascent, fighting her nerves with every step. The heavy scent of resin teases out the memory of that game of Lambs and Tigers that went so terribly, horribly wrong. Her muscles threaten to lock up on her, much as they did when Shikamaru used his hiden technique on her. Still, the reminders of Shino above her and Torune below her buoy her and give her courage to continue forward.

Sakura doesn’t try to force her mind away from her fall at Shikamaru’s hands. She cannot prevent the flow of those memories or the fears that linger from them. But she can control her body and keep moving. So she focuses on putting one foot in front of the other, listening to the hum of chakra within her body as it interacts with the strange, inscrutable chakra of the tree.

And, in doing so, Sakura finds herself at her destination, pulled up onto the platform by a relieved Shino. She collapses into the hug he offers her and the two of them turn to watch Torune climb. Her limbs shake with latent anxiety and relief, but something settles within her. Her memories cannot control her. She is her own master and nothing, not even her own fears, can define who she is.

Torune’s head crests the platform and he scrabbles up, running a hand through his wild hair before offering it to Sakura. “You ready to explore the observatory?”

“Absolutely,” she replies, taking his hand and grabbing Shino’s as Torune leads the way along the crisscrossing walkways to one of the smaller buildings.

“We have a couple of habitats here, all with different crossbreeds of the basic Aburame kikaichū, but we’re going to show you our favorite. The kikaichū that reside here are all still in experimental stages of development. None of the breeds are stable enough to be placed into a host,” Shino explains as they walk. “The queens born within the next four or so generations should be strong enough to support a hive, but we’ll have to see.”

“How long is a generation for kikaichū?” Sakura asks.

“Usually three to five years,” Torune says. “The estimations are usually off by a generation or two both directions because every breed has its own peculiar trajectory of development. So we’ll see how this breed actually turns out.”

“And what breed is this?” Sakura asks as Shino opens the door to the circular building, gesturing her in.

“They aren’t yet named,” Torune replies in a hushed tone.

They move into the building, which is dark inside. They stand in a foyer, blocked off from the rest of the building by a heavy curtain.

“Is there a light switch?” Sakura asks, looking around. “Or windows?”

“No,” Shino says, sidling past her as the door swings shut, leaving them in pitch darkness. “We won’t need light in a moment.”

Sakura hears a rustling ahead of her as Shino draws the curtain away. She startles as dozens and dozens of bright blue lights fill her vision. The blue of them is strange, a hue that Sakura has never seen before now. It is beautiful, reminding her of Ino’s eyes in a way. She rubs her eyes, just to make certain that her eyes aren’t tricking her.

The lights remain when she removes her hands and Sakura darts forward, inspecting the dancing lights up close.

Sakura gasps as she realizes that the pretty blue lights emanate from kikaichū. Their lights intensify whenever they draw near to any of the humans in the room and Sakura can see the shadowy silhouettes of her friends.

“How is this possible?” Sakura asks, awed by the way that one of the kikaichū lands on her open palm. She can tell it is a female, the glow of her ebbing and brightening in a pattern known only to her.

“They’ve been crossbred with several genera of the Pyrophorini. They’re a sort of click beetle with bioluminescent properties,” Shino says eagerly, always happy to speak about the Aburame kikaichū. “We’re currently working with their physiology to make it so they can change the color of the light they emit so they can communicate with individuals without hives. It’ll be useful for any Aburame who works a lot with non-Aburame shinobi and civilians.”

“Absolutely,” Sakura says, entranced by the movement of the kikaichū across her hand. “They’re absolutely gorgeous.”

“Indeed they are,” Torune says, warmed by Sakura’s unflagging enthusiasm. He bustles up beside her, taking her free hand. “Freaks and weirdos?”

Sakura grins, leaning against him. “Freaks and weirdos.”

“You’ve gotta stop.”

Shikaku looks up, refusing to jump at the sight of Anko posed in a provocative and intimidating position on his desk. “Pardon?”

Anko scowls, the storm on her face boding ill for any who dare attempt to stand in her way. Shikaku is uncomfortably aware of just how volatile Anko is; a dangerous combination of instability, skill, trauma, and aggression. Few dare to cross her and none who do remain unscathed. “You’ve gotta stop tailing Sakura.”

Shikaku bristles, closing his book and giving Anko his full attention. She may be a threat, but he is no one to be trifled with either. “I do not appreciate the insinuation.”

Anko snorts, crossing her arms and uncrossing her legs. Shikaku averts his eyes. “I’ll stop beating around the damn bush. I know you’ve been lingering in the areas she haunts here in the Intelligence Division. When the hell have you ever gone to the Archives? Definitely not within Sakura’s lifetime before she apprenticed here. You think you’re being clever when you come down for this treatise or that, but you’re only prolonging that girl’s torment.”

Shikaku’s eyes narrow. “You’re treading on very thin ice, Mitarashi.”

Anko leans forward, staring him down in turn. “Read my lips, Shikaku. I. Don’t. Care. Go ahead and try to make my life hell; I relish the challenge. Things have been a bit mundane recently in any case; I could do with some assassination attempts of either myself or my character.” Anko’s grin is sharp and serrated. “Truthfully, I prefer the assassination attempts on myself, but I’ll cede you creative reign.”

Shikaku stares at her, incredulous. Then he sighs, sitting back in his seat. There was no reasoning with someone as reckless and self-destructive as Anko. He waves a hand to her, already feeling a tension migraine coming on. “Proceed.”

“Sakura isn’t yours. You don’t have a claim to her. You aren’t blood. Even if you were, you have no bond. You might have--once,” Anko says quickly, voice rising as she sees the way Shikaku’s eyes light to pounce, to disagree, to dismiss everything she’s said thus far because of one thing she’s gotten wrong. “The bond you had was a soap bubble; a pretty fragile thing, ephemeral. It was never built to last; not with the way you schemed. Sakura isn’t a game piece to be moved across a board. She’s a child who trusted you.”

“One training to be a ninja,” Shikaku points out. He shuts his mouth with a clack as Anko levels him with a venomous stare, one that threatens to bite off his tongue and saute it for dinner.

“Just because we like to start the propaganda young doesn’t make her any less of a child. She may be learning the skills of a professional killer, but she doesn’t yet have the mental capacity to process the gravity of the situation.” Anko’s smile is bitter but unwavering. “You know as well as I how quickly the child prodigies of Konoha are chewed up and spat out by the machine. Kakashi is a shadow of a man and Itachi?” Anko barks a laugh. “Well, I can’t tell where the Uchiha crazy ends and the prodigy crazy begins in him. And none of the prodigies in recent years have had to deal with the hardship and triumph of girlhood. Hell, Tsunade herself didn’t have to deal with a lot of that shit because of her lineage. Sure, she received pressures of a different sort, but she was protected from being preyed upon until such a time as she could punish those who dared to try.

“Sakura doesn’t have that luxury. She was an anonymous civilian girl training at the Academy; she was competent certainly, but she did not catch the eye of higher-ups. But her skill caught your eye and you drew her, oblivious and unwitting, into a den of vipers. She had no connections among the clans aside from you and that left her vulnerable and beholden to you.

“And you took full advantage of her. She’s a fucking child, Shikaku. You took her in, trained her up, all to set her up as your son’s adversary. Sure, you were trying to motivate your son to take his training seriously, but you placed Sakura in the static role of obstacle. And you know what, that’s fine. It’s shitty as hell, but it’s fine. Sakura served her purpose to your machinations in an extraordinarily idiotic encounter with your son. But then you have the gall-the audacity-to claim that your relationship was more than that; that you have a claim on who Sakura will become.

“Whatever lessons Sakura learned under your tutelage are her due for your treatment of her. She doesn’t owe you shit. That flimsy bond you had popped just like a soap bubble when exposed to pressure. And the pressure you exerted over that bubble was a fucking blacksmith’s anvil. So any accomplishments that Sakura has now or in the future are not because of you, but in spite of you.” Anko takes a deep breath, gauging Shikaku’s expression. He doesn’t reveal much, but Anko caught flickers of shame and guilt as she spoke. It will have to be enough. “Leave the past in the past and let the girl live her life free of you and your machinations. If I catch a hint of you sniffing around Sakura again…” Anko trails off, knowing that Shikaku is smart enough to fill in the blanks creatively.

Anko disappears in a miniature whirlwind, throwing the room into absolute disarray. Shikaku glances around for a moment before placing his head against his desk with a long, drawn-out sigh.

[faintblueivy]

Is She Beautiful? - Chapter 7 - Borusara fanfiction

Apologies for such a late update! It was badly struck in this chapter but thankfully got to update it finally after some brainstorming. Thanks to all for your comments

This chapter was betaread by @roopshasil!

You can also read on Ao3.

Chapter 7

Things kept Hidden

“Idiot.”

She thought, jumping and traversing through the foliage of the trees, determined to catch up to him with a small silver object clutched in her hand.

After today's events, Sarada was not sure of what to think of boys’ sudden affection for her. Boruto had apologised to her, saying something about him saying some stuff about them being friends and others making some stupid interpretations and then marching in to annoy her. Throughout the conversation, he was a blushing and stuttering mess and Sarada wasn't sure what to make of it when he ate half of what he said by mumbling and rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous manner.

They sat there for a while, enjoying each other's company and some silence after his hasty apology for a subject she couldn't understand. Then all of a sudden, he jumped up, exclaiming how late it was and telling her that he had to go and pick Himawari up from the Hyuuga mansion since his mother was out for some work. After a quick goodbye, he had rushed off, only to drop his key. Sarada called out after him but he was fast and couldn't hear what she said.

And that's how she was left with his key. Of course, the key that needed to be returned to him. And hence, the chase.

When she finally reached the town square on the way to Boruto's home, her eyes scanned the the congregation of people below her for a mop of blonde sunshine hair. She felt herself smiling when she spotted him in midst the crowd, moving swiftly.

Wait.

Something's not right.

Both his home and the Hyuuga mansion are...on the other direction, right?

Then...where is he going?

It's didn't take her more than a few seconds to decide that this particular matter needed investigation. She has followed him before too so it shouldn't be a big deal, right?

Oh, ‘research’ is a better suited term. She's done 'research and investigation’, no following around.

Something nags her in the back of her mind to not proceed with this idea but she convinces herself that she is doing it for him! For a guy who seems to attract troubles like a magnet does iron, she should keep an eye on him. Yes, that's what she'll do. Just a small attempt to make sure that he is not messing up something again.

The path Boruto is moving on is zigzag, brittle and comparatively isolated. A little confusing too but she can recognise the familiar landscape. She keeps a steady pace and notices where this path actually leads to. 

The Chunin exam stadium.

A weird sensation pricks her agitation even more. She wants to jump and pin him down and ask him what the hell he's doing here? But Sarada prides herself for being a level headed kunoichi (most of the times) so she holds herself back. She will stay back and observe him from afar. Her puzzlement over this entire situation grows even further when he approaches the adults, converses with them and then enters the damaged area in the insides of the ruined stadium.

Sarada knows that she is not a master of shadows but still, she could be quite stealthy when the situation desires her to be. It doesn't take her much more than a few seconds and a few well calculated jumps to sneak into the cracked stadium. She moved cautiously, with enough pace to avoid detection. Watching her step to avoid occupied corridors, she peeks over the area from above, a nice hidden place.

It's easy to spot him amidst the dull grey fallen debris. And the sight that greeted her widened her eyes.

He's still working? But why? Mission was over tomorrow? Right? He didn't have to come to the arena today.

Then bits of the conversation that she had heard and yet had oh so easily ignored flashed across her mind.

“Did you hear that?”

Sarada watched the two Chunin officials talking to each other as she passed by holding a large wooden beam for repairs.

“You're kidding, right? No way! He willingly offered himself for probation? This is crazy! Who does that?!”

“Yeah! My thoughts exactly!”

“Does Hokage-sama know about this?”

“I suppose not. I've also heard that he begged chief to not let it be known to him.”

So they were talking about him? Of course! And she had not even given it all a second thought. So he's been lying to everyone, again? How many times was he going to repeat this same stupidity?

She bit her lower lip harshly in order to contain the frustration and anger she felt at his betrayal. She knew he felt guilty for not only cheating but also for the damage that monster Momoshiki had caused to Konoha. And she wanted him to understand that it was not his fault.  She had hoped, in vain, that he would understand that they're his teammates and he needed to share his problems with them. But no. His answer was a big fat NO again. And it hurt.

Tears pooled on the corner of her eyes and threatening to spill down. Sarada furiously swiped at them, the other hand gripping her glasses tightly. Grinding her teeth she immediately stood up, not wanting to stay here a minute now.

Why are you so stubborn? And stupid?

From here she can see a group of boys throwing stuff at him. He was able to dodge them without even sparing a glance but Sarada was sure that they were spewing out insults and enough venom to burn him down. Sarada wanted to intervene but she was not sure who she was struggling against.

Who was her opponent?

Boruto's own bullheadedness or the malice of people wanting to hurt him.

….

The sun was setting, painting the sky in brilliant shades of red, orange and pink. The birds that flew past appeared black against the colourful sky. And Naruto's short hair were able to resist the breeze unlike Sasuke's long locks which swayed to the rhythm of the wind.

“You are worried about him, aren't you?”

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

“Your troublemaking brat.”

The fond exasperation in Sasuke's voice made Naruto grin.

“Well, as you said, Sasuke, he is a troublemaker.”

“Wonder whom he got it from? Your wife probably? I remember her painting the Hokage rock with that disgusting shade of red all the time.”

A booming laugh echoed echoed through the balcony and slowly vanishing in the swirling air.

“Maybe you should give up being a shinobi and instead try your hand at comedy? Bet you'll be famous in no time! Especially when the Hokage himself would come to grace your shows.”

“No Naruto but thank you very much for the offer.”

Sarcasm dripped from every syllable that escaped from Sasuke's mouth and Naruto found himself leaning over the railing to control his laughter. But slowly he eased, all the worries rushing back in.

“I'm worried. Yeah you're right. He's becoming more like you with each passing day.”

Sasuke turned to give his friend a look but Naruto immediately backtracked.

“No! No! I'm not saying that it's a bad thing Sasuke! In fact, I think I'll be happy if I see my son becoming half a Shinobi like you! It's just…well, it's his habit of bottling up his feelings. He likes to hide his problems from his loved ones and it is scary. For me. A lot more than I wanna admit. I-I want him to share things with others. If not me then someone else! It's fine! It'll lessen his pain. But the possibility of him becoming anything like you - like wanting to bear all the pain and hatred all by himself is terrifying for me. Just like how now we have each other...I want him to have someone as well. Someone he could share his feelings with. Argh! It's damn hard to explain! Do you get it?!”

Sasuke snorts in amusement at Naruto's frustration but he understood it. He understood Naruto's anxiety for his child. He felt the same way for Sarada. To think that Sarada someday could end up pushing her loved ones away for the sake of pursuing her goal...is unthinkable.

“We're pathetic. Aren't we?”

Naruto's rueful chuckle made him shake his head and spare a glance. Sasuke noted how his eyes shined with worry and infinite love for his son and he smiled.

“We're just learning to be parents. No one told us that it was going to be this hard.”

“Excuses! Excuses!” Naruto grinned.

“Dobe, I'm trying to help you manage your guilt here. But what should I have expected? You’re too dumb to even realise that I'm wasting my precious time on you.”

“Dammit Teme! You wanna fight?!” Naruto yelled, swinging his fists in a motion to threaten him.

“You bet.” Sasuke smirked, unsheathing his Katana.

In midst of their stupid squabble which ended when Shikamaru paralyzed them with his shadow paralysis jutsu, Naruto said something to him which echoed inside his head for the entire day.

"I just want him to be happy and safe. That's all.”

And Sasuke wondered how the two of them who never looked eye to eye on any matter could agree with each other so vehemently on this particular subject.

Maybe it's a parent thing.

…

Every muscle in his body throbbed. His back hurt from lifting all the load and his injured hand couldn't stop shaking.

“Damn.”

A hiss escaped his lips as he lethargically made his way towards home. The battle with those boys who had harassed Sarada and his two hours of work in the probation period had taken a toll on his body. His blue eyes looked upward to the sky, dropping close more often than not. He just wanted to go home and sleep.

He almost passed by a dark alleyway when a shrill cry of a child stopped him dead in the tracks. He ducked in the darkness as fast as his legs could carry and the sight that greeted him burned him with fury.

A few teenagers, probably four to five years older than him held a child who was barely five by his neck. Laughing and mocking the frightened kid.

“Put him down!” Boruto screamed, his voice bouncing off the walls of the alley.

“Ohh? Who's that? Wait. Is that...Uzumaki Boruto? Oh, it's him! The savior! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” They sneered at him.

Now when they turned to him, Boruto immediately recognised them as the same gang of hooligans who were serving probation program alongside him. And of course, it was not the first time they had jeered at him. The scene of the frightened child looking up at him with a flicker of hope in his tear filled eyes twisted something in Boruto's gut.

“Put that kid down!” Boruto emphasized again and they laughed loudly again.

“Yeah? You want us to put that brat down?”

One of them smirked maliciously at him. “But we do need a toy to play with. It's a shame that the brat didn't have much money on him.”

Boruto gritted his teeth. Yes, he could fight but there was no guarantee of his winning in this condition. He was barely able to move his limbs. Fighting five criminal shinobi teenagers in a narrow space with a kid held hostage didn't seem like a good idea.

Suddenly a scream pierced through the area as the child was slammed into the wall harshly. Boruto panicked.

“Hey! Put him down please!”

“Surrender yourself then boy.”

“Fine! Just put him down!”

They threw the child across the floor and he immediately jumped and scrambled to the wall, sobbing and frightened. Boruto only took three steps when a sharp searing pain shot through his legs and he stumbled, falling on his knees. A needle was protruding through his thigh. As his frantic gaze flicked up, he spotted a gun like device in the hands of one of the guys.

“W-what the hell is that?” He croaked out, fear breaking his voice.

“You should know, right? It's a new ninja tech invention! After all, you used the one which didn't even come down on the market!” they jibed at him.

“What do you want with me?!” He questioned again, a little frightened.

“We wanna play with you. Boy, just that.”

It was the only warning he got before a kick was rammed into stomach. It hurt. The needle was definitely laced with some sort of limb numbing stuff. And sadly he couldn't move himself. He was thrown to a corner and rammed against the wall. He got a few more blows on his torso, hunching over.

“We're the same, aren't we?” One of them asked, leaning in close to him.

“W-what?” Boruto winced at the pain shooting up to his brain.

“You and us.” The guy gave him a dirty sneer and pointed out at him.

“No way! Never! I-I'll never be like you people! I'll never behave this despicably!”

Even the thought of being compared with these people made him sick to the stomach let alone being called similar. He is not a person to enjoy other's pains to satisfy his own sadistic tendencies. That is why he desperately denied all these baseless accusing.  

“Oh yes, you'd rather degrade Konoha's reputation on an international stage. You'd rather call your father names in front of the great five nations. Then you'd rather hand over that monster an infinite source of power by discharging all those jutsus?”

Boruto shuddered because all of this was correct. He had done that, right?

“You gave him the strength to destroy. If not for the Hokage...then he would have massacred hundreds of people on the spot. How does that make you better ...or well, any less despicable than us?”

Each and every word spoken was a stab to his heart and Boruto felt all the fight leave his body. His fighting instincts slowly drained away until there was nothing left except for a mere shell of conscience. As the boy raised his arm to strike him again, Boruto braced himself for the pain. But instead of the sting that should have come he felt an incredible sense of dread. It seemed as if the temperature had dropped down a few degrees and air surrounding them felt cold with apprehension and blazing with hatred at the same time.

“Don't you dare touch him.”  

Boruto eyes snapped at the sound of that frighteningly familiar yet so incredibly unrecognisable voice. It sounded so distant as if he had never heard it that voice his entire life despite being sure that yes, he had, everyday.  He looked up and the sight made a shiver run down his spine.

She stood a top a building. The haunting silver moonlight illuminated her dark silhouette. Her glasses glinted with the eeriness of eyes which swirled in that fabled blood red glow and fury. And all he was able to was mutter out a whisper.

Sarada…?

The story wouldn't have been any fun without any climax right? Poor kids have to battle again! Huh. I'd love to know your thoughts about this chapter! Don't forget to comment! Have a good day everyone! ❤️❤️❤️

[elegiesforshiva]

Ghosts XIV: Heartthrob

Masterpost

Previous | Next

The camp they set is rife with silence and agitation, not unlike most missions, but something is different with this one.  

Despite Nara’s calm and apathetic disposition, Sasuke can tell he is livid.  His right hand keeps palming the pocket he keeps his cigarettes in, and the turn of his jaw is twitching, probably itching to chain smoke like he has since the start of the mission.  But he doesn’t because tonight they are too close to enemy lines.

Despite the frigid cold, they’d be going without a fire.  Just blankets, soldier pills, and water.  They’re even resting on the thick bodied branches of Konoha’s trees to avoid leaving obvious footprints.  

This is a reconnaissance mission, Shikamaru had said at least six times since the start of the mission. We cannot be seen.  

If anyone else were leading the mission, Sasuke would have thought it excessive.  But it’s Nara, and if he’s being overly cautious, there’s probably a good reason for it.

Sasuke suspects it has to do with him, lone arm trembling and head buried beneath six feet of ash.  But he thinks it must be more than that too.  Handicapped or not, he can hold his own and everyone knows it.

“That’s it—I need to ask,” Kiba says, and Sasuke already knows something stupid is about to come out of his mouth.  “Why the hell do you keep staring at him?”

“Huh?  Who?” Ino says, so dull-witted and obvious that Sasuke thinks it would be catastrophic if she were ever interrogated.

“You!”  Kiba says, scrunching his nose until it mirrors the nin-dog curling against him.  

“I’m not doing anything!” Ino hisses, her head rivets so fast it’s a wonder it doesn’t snap right off.  She glares hard at him, like she’s reprimanding Inuzuka for noticing her gawking for three days.  Sasuke is just glad her eyes are finally off of him.

“Shh,” Kaito intervenes.  “Keep it down.” He’s the only one in the team that’s not part of the annoying band of genin Sasuke once knew.   There’s a strange comfort in that—along with the fact that he’s relatively quiet and docile.

“You’ve been looking at Sasuke like Akamaru does a piece of meat since we left Konoha,” Kiba says, his voice only marginally softer.    “Aren’t you dating Sai?  Either way, it’s Sasuke—“  Sasuke tries to ignore them, hone in on the hiss of the wind.

“—he’s not going to sleep with you.”  It doesn’t work.

“Kiba, you crude, dog-breathed shit stain,” Ino whisper-shouts. “If you keep yapping, I’ll knock your ass right off that branch!”

“No, you will not,” Shikamaru says, sounding as if he wanted to be anywhere but here.  “Ino, stop staring at Sasuke. Kiba, shut your trap.  You’re both going to agitate your teammates—primarily me.”

“Oh please,” Ino mumbles, just loud enough for Sasuke to hear.  “You’re always agitated these days.”  But then she’s turning on her side, pulling her thin blanket up to her pink nose.   Shikamaru rolls his eyes, the only indication that he heard her before wisely choosing to ignore it.

A thick quiet sets in, and Sasuke can hear his harsh breath as much as he can feel it.  He tries to focus on the bright strip of moon, the thick stitching of his blanket, the grainy texture of bark against his fingers—anything but the aches in his body.  He desperately itches to ignite Susanoo, if only to feel his body come aflame.  Fuck, he just needs some relief.  

“Sasuke, get over here.  I need to talk to you,” He hears Shikamaru call.  A growl is born and dies in his throat, because he already knows he’s been caught.  When he looks up, he sees Kaito staring at him, and Ino looking like she’s trying not to.  

Sasuke shifts his weight, standing on legs that feel as if they might fall right off.  He wonders if he can chalk the shaking of his arm up to the cold.  He pushes off his branch with a single stride and lands on Shikamaru’s.

Sasuke can see every hard line around the scrunch of red nose and cheeks beneath those worn, inquisitive eyes.  Sasuke can’t help but think that Nara looks far older than even most shinobi his age. And he imagines his own face must look much worse.

“Ino said you’ve been having withdrawals,” Shikamaru says.

For a fleeting moment, Sasuke imagines himself strangling Ino, before consciously shoving the brutal image down in an overflowing mental trunk of his unwanted rage.  

“Have you been hallucinating since we left Konoha?”

“No,” Sasuke lies.  It doesn’t matter.  The hallucinations are nonviolent and brief enough for the lie to pass.  Still, Shikamaru gives him a dubious look, and it’s like grime coating his every exposed nerve.  

“Is that all?”  Sasuke presses, wanting to just be done with this conversation and this mission so he can just see Naruto and Sakura again.  He hasn’t seen them in days.

“I just need you to be honest with me,” Shikamaru says, leaning back into oak trunk so wide it looks like it might swallow him.  “There’s a number of concerns right now, some involving the members of this squad and I need to know if you’re one of them.”

“I’m not,” Sasuke says.  “If anything, you should be worried that there’s a chunin in the squad.”

“Kaito is the most qualified person for his position here, other than Akamaru,” Shikamaru says.  “He’s the least of my problems.”  He nods over to Sasuke’s cloaked shoulder, calculating eyes trailing down the length of his side.  “What about your arm?  I can’t imagine you’ll have great accuracy with shuriken when it’s shaking like that.”

“This is a reconnaissance mission,” Sasuke says, repeating Shikamaru’s earlier words.  “We won’t be seen.”

“Don’t be a smartass, Uchiha.”

“You’re asking if I can throw shuriken correctly,” Sasuke quips, and he doesn’t bother to keep the strain from his voice—he’s beyond his limit.  Ino has been staring at him, waiting for him to snap this whole trip, Kiba’s perpetual, obnoxious commentary is even more annoying than the dobe’s, and Sakura should have been on this mission, but now he has to worry about two sensors tracking his erratic chakra instead of one.

Shikamaru sighs, palms his head in nothing short of irritation.  “Just don’t screw this up.”  He crosses his arms.  “I’ll have Ino check on you before we leave in the morning.  Get some rest, I’m not putting you on duty tonight.”

Sasuke doesn’t nod, or give any clear indication he heard the order.  He just returns to his branch and curls against the trunk with the elegance of a capricious child.  He loosens his thin cloak off his shoulders and tucks his chin enough for his hair to veil his face.  He feigns sleep through posture alone, refusing to do so much as close his eyes.  It doesn’t matter.  In the shinobi world, there’s two ways to go about your teammates:  Pretend you’re not watching, or just do it openly.

He hears them trade off shifts to keep watch. And the cold settles thick in his sore, fevered muscles in a painfully pleasant way.  It’s nearly midnight when he feels a slight weight shift on the end of his branch.

Sasuke doesn’t even glance at the chunin.  “What?”  He asks, trying not to sound annoyed, or like he’s been daydreaming of ripping his own skin off for the past two hours.

“Can’t sleep again?”  Kaito asks, his voice so distant and calm it felt like it was forged in the night sky.

“Hnh,” Sasuke grunts.

“Is it the mission?”

Sasuke considers not responding, but decides against it.  The less heads rolling in elusive questions and grim fantasies, the better.  “No.”

Kaito frowns in a way that suggests determination.  Maybe he doesn’t believe him, or maybe he’s stupid enough to think he can serenade away a stranger’s childhood traumas by morning.

“I know it’s not my place,” Kaito begins. “But you don’t seem well.”

“You’re right,” Sasuke says.  He tilts his head to see past rotting foliage, towards a blackened, starry sky.  “It’s not your place.”

There’s a stunned silence, and Sasuke fully expects the nin to leave, possibly after mumbling a clumsy apology.  But he doesn’t.  Kaito just chuckles, forced and awkward.  

“You know, you remind me of a friend,” the chunin says.  “We were in ANBU together, her and I.  She taught me a pretty neat trick—” His eyes flit to Kaito’s dark ones, the way his mouth twitches and knees buckle in on the next phrase, “Keeps the noise down.”  

Sasuke can already tell he puts this nin on edge. He doesn’t blame him.  He knows his chakra has been turbulent and he kind of feels like the timebomb Ino has been treating him as too.  But Sasuke also knows his trigger already went off.  He's just been trying to keep up with the devastation.

“If you concentrate your chakra around your eardrums, you start to hear your pulse a little louder,” Kaito says, and closes his eyes, forces himself to relax.  The Rinnegan traces the sensor’s yellow chakra, marvels at how it simmers in, like it’s been dipped in a warm bath.  “When I’m on safe grounds, I make it so it’s all I hear.  Sometimes it’s just a nice reminder to know you’re alive.”

Sasuke quietly studies Kaito, the soft line of his lips, and the downcast of his eyes even when he opens them.  He wonders if the shinobi who taught him this “trick” is dead, or what other tragic stories must accompany this chunin for him to take comfort in his heartbeat—  

when Sasuke spends most days just wishing his would stop.

Ino’s hands move methodically over his muscles, pressing gently at key points where Sasuke felt the greatest strain.  The sun is gone too early again and everything about this winter is too cold. Ino’s teeth are clattering against one another like fine glass, the ice blue of her eyes gliding over the aches of his rigid body.  

“If he’s this concerned about withdrawal, why isn’t he just ordering you to feed me more medication?”  Sasuke asks, sounding slightly less cynical than he feels.

Ino huffs part of a laugh or sneer, and her breath comes through in a thick vapor.  “I told him it wouldn’t be a better trade off with all the side effects.”

“And you believe that?” Sasuke asks.

“Uh, yeah,” Ino says, slides a dry, pink tongue over her cracked lip, eyes cemented to her hands.  Sakura looked like that too, when she was healing his and Naruto’s bleeding appendages.  “I wouldn’t have given Naruto most of that crap if you weren’t on active duty and Hinata wasn’t pregnant at the time.  You don’t need drugs, Sasuke.  You need support.”  

Her hands move to his left shoulder, and he gasps at the sudden pressure.  It feels like her chakra is penetrating bone marrow and soothing as it is, it feels violating.  He doesn’t remember Kabuto’s quick checks being like this. But then again, Sasuke had a tendency to cut those short, if not outright refuse them.  

“But unfortunately,” Ino says, “You’re a shinobi like the rest of us—and that makes you damned to feel alone no matter how many people are with you.”

“Does she feel that way too?”  Sasuke asks before he can stop himself.  He hates himself for it.  He can’t tell if Ino’s presence is disarming of he’s just hopelessly desperate to hear from someone who has answers.

Ino is startled, her lips parting and her eyes growing into wide, cold mirrors.  Sasuke can see his naked need reflected through them.  

“You really care about her, don’t you?” She asks.

Sasuke snarls in offense.  “She’s my teammate.”

Ino is quiet, hands still, and he can see her eyes searching for something in his face before she turns her gaze past him.  When he looks close enough, he can just make out Shikamaru’s figure reflected in her icy blue iris.

“We really thought you left, Sasuke,” she says. “We didn’t think you were ever coming back.”  Ino looks down at her hands, the color past pink and bordering red from the cold.  Her nailbeds are brown with buried dirt.  His are too. “Sakura, she… We mourned you, Sasuke.  It was like...like you died.”

Sasuke doesn’t want to hear this.  Cherished as Ino is, she’s not the one he needs to beg for forgiveness.  But he knows that pain is shared and Sakura’s hurt is Ino’s too.  They’re connected.  Just like him and Naruto.  And so he whispers it anyway, laying a firm hand around her wrist, hoping to feel the presence of a single, blooming blossom through the contact.  A tremor runs through instead.  “I know.  I’m sorry.”

Her other hand slowly clamps down on his and he feels like a hostage.  It’s cold, and the grip is strong with the kind of hurt that Sasuke often tries to daydream away.  But he doesn’t resist it this time.  

“I’ll save it,” he tells her.

Sasuke studies the iron bars below, rusted and nearly buried in snow and dead foliage.  

The hideout is underground, like most hidden lairs, but the entrances are rarely this small and narrow.  It resides in a hollowed out tree, between a thicker branch and the trunk, sealed with an area genjutsu that his eyes can see through with comical ease.

“It’s even smaller than I thought it’d be,” Ino whispers.  “How is Akamaru going to fit?”

“Oh, he’ll fit just fine, don’t you worry.”  Inuzaka’s smile is somehow both mocking and prideful.  He glides a hand over his prized nin-dog and Akamaru lets out a bare whimper, despite the eccentric flailing of his tail.

“This is the safest entrance our intel gives us,” Shikamaru says, before inclining his head towards Ino and Kaito, who sit in the rear.  “How many can you sense?”

“Not as many as there should be with a hideout as big as the report suggested,” Ino says, frowning.

“Is it concentrated or scattered?”

“Concentrated for sure,” Kiba says.  “I can smell them right from here.  And a bunch of chemicals too.”

“Yeah, it’s mostly clumped together, but I can still sense a few signatures on the outskirts,” Ino says.

“How many?” Shikamaru asks.

“Probably three or four,” Ino says.

“I feel four,” Kaito confirms.

Shikamaru stares forward, pensive.  His eyes are locked on the gateway.  “Change of plans,” he decides.  “We’re going to rely on Kiba’s nose for tracking. Ino, Kaito.  You two stay on the outskirts.”

“What?  I’m the medic,” Ino says.

“And I’m the captain,” Shikamaru dismisses. “I’ll give you the signal if we need back up.”  

“What about the chemicals?” Ino asks.  “What if they’re toxic?”

“Then more reason for you to stay behind,” Shikamaru says, a rough edge to his voice that demands submission.  “Are we clear to go?”

Ino looks like she wants to protest further and even Kaito looks peeved.  But they hold their tongue.  Kaito murmurs a reluctant, “You’re clear.”

“Good.  Stay within a five mile radius.  If you can’t for any reason, contact me with Shintenshin,” Shikamaru says.  Then they’re off, slipping through a dubious passage with Sasuke’s Sharingan rippling in the wake of his genjutsu.

The hallways are obscenely cramped and monotonous, clad in blacks and greys and dirt.  There’s no trace of light, and it’s frigid yet stuffy with an odd fume that Sasuke can only hope isn’t poisonous.

Sasuke is leading, the only member of the group who retains sight, and relying heavily on Akamaru who snarls or growls when he smells a nin down a pathway.  Their steps are a practiced quiet, so soft that all that’s left is silence, bleak corridors, and more silence. Sasuke can hear the mellow thump-thump of his heart and it almost sounds like the taps of a clock.  Tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock.

“What are we even looking for?”  Sasuke whispers, trying to discern one long, rotting passageway from the other.

“Anything,” Shikamaru says.  

“There isn’t anything,” Sasuke says, frustrated.

“Wait, shut up,” Kiba says.  They stand in a long stretch of strained silence, listening.  But nothing comes.  

The cool, damp fumes grate Sasuke’s throat and stiffens his skin.  He wants to shrug it off his skeleton, peel it away. Snakeskin.  Sasuke has never understood Orochimaru’s coveted newness like he does now.  He breathes, channels chakra to his eardrums.  It gets louder.

Tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock.

Finally, Shikamaru whispers, “What do you hear?”

“A conversation.”  Kiba says, before finally turning on his heel and walking forward.  “And it sounds important. C’mon, this way.”

“You’re about to walk into a wall.”  Sasuke sneers, grasps Kiba’s shoulder and guides him down the aisle.

They move down narrow halls until there’s a sliver of light peeking at the end of a corridor.  And then there’s a wordless, unified shift in their movements.  They’re faster, yet meticulous.  And when they get closer, they can hear an exchange of voices.

“...about the expedition?”

A deep, musky voice echoes.  “Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing?”  A high pitched voice growls.  “It’s an Uzumaki and this was the fifth one made.  Your sensors should be more reliable than this.”

“They are reliable,” a man says with a strained sort of anger.  “But we don’t even know what country to look in. We’re about to set off to search in Ame now.”

They sound so far that Sasuke can’t help but peak through the corner.  He realizes the hall leads to a crumbling balcony, and they’re hearing the voices of a candlelit room down below.  He crouches low and moves closer, grateful that Shikamaru trusts his judgement enough to follow.  He can just make out the figures of a dark haired man and two women, one who is slouched in a corner desk, writing.  Beside her is a teal haired child, shackled and gagged, lying still on the floor.

“We’re running out of time,” the woman says.  “We don’t know how the nations are going to respond after the deposition.”

“We can guess,” the bandit replies, a smile in his voice.  

“Do I look like a fucking Kage to you?” She snaps. “If we want to see tangible results, we can’t just direct our people on guesses and prayers.  But I guess you wouldn’t know that, since you—”

“Rina, you need to relax,” another feminine voice pitches in, placing her pen down and shifting in her seat.  Sasuke just makes out a different movement in his peripheral, and he turns his head to see Akamaru pawing at Kiba’s leg.  His stomach starts to squeeze. “They’ll probably just tighten the security a little.  It’s no big deal.  And besides, we have so many clans in ou—”  

“And Konohagakure alone practically has two Gods, Yuki.”  

“What about the guy in the northern hideout?  His plan could work, if we coordinate it right.”

She scoffs.  “Fat chance.”

Sasuke watches Kiba try to hush his nin-dog, but then Akamaru clamps his mouth over Kiba’s arm and starts dragging him backwards.  Shikamaru is there in the next moment, and there’s a whispered exchange before he signals Sasuke to come back.

“We need to retreat,” Shikamaru says, voice so dry, so practiced.  And the tick-tock gets replaced with a wild th-thump th-thump th-thump.

Sasuke leads in haste, wishing he had his second arm again and maybe a third so he could just snatch them all up and move.  He can’t let it happen.  He can’t lose more people.  And neither can she.

When they reach the entrance they came through, Kiba has already prepared them for the two nin waiting, and Shikamaru’s signature jutsu has them planted still for Sasuke’s methodical incapacitations.

“Out. Now.”  Shikamaru commands before the last body even meets the ground.

Kiba is pulling an unconscious bandit up by the arm.  “Shouldn’t we ta—”

“Now.”  Shikamaru growls, vicious, and Kiba drops the body in an instant.  “We don’t have time.”  

Sasuke is pacing around his head while scampering up the hollowed tree.  That pasty Root-nin will never accept him as Team 7.  Naruto will be disappointed, and Naruto already has too much to be disappointed about.

They’re out, and the open air frees Sasuke’s lungs.  First it’s dead leaves and frosted moss and everything once green and now white.

And then it’s blood.

“Shit,” Kiba breathes.

Lying yards from the exit is Kaito amongst the snow. He’s all brown and green and red. His mouth is agape, his eyes match, and there’s an endless hole sitting where his heart should be.

The gore is splattered everywhere.  On tree bark, on snowy forest floor, and all over Sasuke’s mind.  There’s so much of it and it couldn’t all be Kaito’s.  It couldn’t.  

Sasuke’s eyes dart about frantically.  His chakra is rupturing inside the left arm he doesn’t have and Shikamaru is telling him to get a hold of himself.  But he doesn’t see Ino nor her chakra and Gods, Sakura is going to be so upset.  She’ll never forgive him for this.

“Yamanaka,” he says. “We have to find Yamanaka.”

[thefreckledone]

Satori (Between the Lines) - Part 8

Sakura scampers away from the table as Shikamaru puts his head down, counting loudly. She looks around, seeking out a place to hide. Naruto squeezes her hand.

“Should we hide together, Sakura-chan?” he asks, ready to follow her lead.

Sakura hesitates, thinking, and then shaking her head. “No,” she says. “We should split up. Shikamaru has to catch each of us so it’d be best if we are all as far apart as we can be.”

Naruto nods, accepting her words. He grins. “Shikamaru is going to have a hard time catching me!” he exclaims. “I’m great at running.”

Sakura smiles in turn, remembering all of the races at the Academy. Naruto is usually ranked among the top five for speed, alongside Ino, Sasuke, Kiba, and Ami. “You’ll do great Naruto. Just make sure not to get caught.”

“What about you, Sakura-chan? You aren’t exactly fast,” he says, watching her with concern.

Sakura ignores the twinge of hurt at his bluntness, knowing that he is just worried. She slips her hand free of his and shrugs. “I might not be as fast but I have a plan on my side. Speed isn’t going to factor into catching me.”

“Okay Sakura-chan,” Naruto says, taking her word at face value. “Don’t get slaughtered!”

He takes off at an impressive pace, disappearing further into the Nara Forest. Sakura watches him go and follows at a slower rate, attentive to the care of her yukata. She can still hear Shikamaru counting as she comes across a large tree with low branches. Sakura squares up with the tree, shifting her clothes and slipping free of her shoes as she jumps and grasps the lowest hanging branch. She’s just glad that she is wearing shorts beneath her yukata.

As a child of Konoha, Sakura, like so many other children, is a decent tree climber. Children in Konoha learn to walk, to climb, and lastly to run. Before Sakura made friends, when she still ran from bullies, she always hid either in the library or in the trees. So, Sakura presses her toes into the grooves of the bark, pulling herself up onto the branch. Despite the stifling nature of her clothes, Sakura manages to climb the tree at a quick pace. She makes her way about twenty maybe thirty feet up the tree and looks around from her perch.

She cannot see Ino, but she does notice that Chōji seated back at the table where they initially gathered, apparently caught by Shikamaru. Naruto is being chased by Shikamaru, running at his top speed. And yet, somehow, Shikamaru is clearly gaining on him. He’s usually ranked dead last in the races, undoubtedly because he refuses to participate.

Sakura swallows, anxiety spiking at Shikamaru’s clear show of skill. She cannot help but wonder what other skills Shikamaru hides behind a veneer of laziness. She reluctantly pulls her attention away from the chase and looks at the nearby trees. Sakura shifts along her branch, channeling a little bit of her chakra to her feet. It isn’t exactly the same as tree walking—it doesn’t require as much chakra—but it does keep her feet stuck firmly to the tree. It offers her a sense of security, just in case her balance is off. Sakura curls her toes against the bark, preparing herself.

She’s seen shinobi do this all the time and she’s even practiced this a little bit with Ibiki. But Ibiki isn’t here, leaving her without her safety net.

Sakura takes a deep breath, widening her stance and leaps.

Her heart lifts along with her, exhilaration pumping through her veins. It’s like she’s flying.

Sakura lands a bit awkwardly on the branch of the next tree, though her feet and grip are solid. She lets out a small exclamation of celebration as she regains her balance. As she surveys the ground beneath her, Sakura notices that she’s caught Shikamaru’s eye.

He smiles, but it isn’t nice. It’s vicious, mean, and triumphant. “Found you,” he says.

“But you haven’t caught me yet,” Sakura replies.

She hears Naruto laugh and cheer from the nearby table, but her attention is focused solely on Shikamaru. The determined gleam in his eyes and the set of his jaw have her immediately wary.

“I’ll change that very shortly,” Shikamaru says, as he sets about scaling the tree.

Sakura watches him, noting his progression. He isn’t as competent a climber as she is, but he still moves at a quick enough pace. Sakura dares to glance away from him for a brief moment, assessing the table. Both Naruto and Chōji sit there, watching the encounter avidly. Sakura notes that Chōji is even sharing a snack with Naruto, a rare sight indeed for the Akimichi heir. The clan heads and their wives have drifted closer, paying close attention to the game unfolding high in the trees.

Ino is nowhere to be seen.

Sakura’s lips unfurl into a smile, even as her shoulders straighten. There are only about ten or so minutes before dinner will start. If she can keep him occupied for most of that time, stall him, Ino will win and, by association, all of the lambs will win.

Sakura comes to this conclusion in a matter of seconds and she returns her gaze to Shikamaru to assess his trajectory. He’s about ten feet up the tree and ascending rapidly.

Sakura turns from him and starts to climb higher in the tree, getting about another ten or so feet up before stopping once more. She reinforces the chakra at her feet, ensuring that she keeps a firm grip on the tree. She looks down at Shikamaru and, channeling Sasuke and even Shikamaru at their most haughty, directs a smirk at him. “Best of luck, tiger.”

Then, she starts to run, eyes on the adjacent tree. At the end of the branch, Sakura launches herself from her current branch to the next, landing with confidence. She looks back at Shikamaru, taking in the surprise in his features. Apparently, he didn’t see her first jump. However, his expression quickly settles back into stubbornness as he assesses the tree.

He begins to climb at a quicker rate, eyes on her the entire time. Sakura watches him in turn, sizing him up. There’s a flash of yellow out of the corner of her eye and Sakura catches sight of Ino on the ground, moving closer to the trees that Shikamaru and Sakura are in.

Shikamaru’s eyes flick in the same direction as Ino announces her presence, “Hey! You can’t catch me, Shikamaru!”

Sakura can see the calculation in his face, his wavering attention as a seemingly easier target presents herself. Sakura isn’t willing to let Ino be caught though. “C’mon tiger!” she calls. “You scared?”

Shikamaru’s shoulders hike as he scowls up at Sakura, ignoring Ino completely even as she shouts and jeers at him. He rushes along the tree branch, throwing himself to the same tree Sakura is in. He hits his desired branch with a thump, but he scrabbles for a good hold and pulls himself to his feet. “You wish,” Shikamaru says, glaring up at Sakura.

Sakura shivers slightly at the ferocity crackling in his gaze, but she supposes it’s a good thing. Her attempt to distract him is working well, maybe too well. He immediately sets to climbing closer to her and Sakura looks around, trying to find her next target. There aren’t any good, solid branches nearby, except in the tree she just vacated.

She shrugs to herself and adjusts her yukata, the bow at the back starting to come loose. Shikamaru is closing in, only seven or so feet below her. Sakura starts to run along the branch, gaze on the next tree.

“Not this time!” Shikamaru says, moving his hands quickly through a number of hand signs.

His shadow lengthens, snaking through the shadow of the tree and attaching to Sakura’s. Sakura immediately stops moving, one foot still in the air.

“What?” Sakura says, fear spiking through her. She doesn’t understand what is happening, why she is incapable of moving. “What’s happening?”

“Hey stop that!” Ino calls from beneath the tree. “No using kekkei genkai in this game!”

“We never made that rule,” Shikamaru lobs back. “I’ll use anything I have at my disposal.”

“Kekkei genkai?” Sakura repeats, heart racing. She’s heard a bit about the Nara and their connection with shadows. To escape him, she’ll have to sever their connection, but Sakura is incapable of moving. She doesn’t know how to get free. She’s never felt so defenseless, so vulnerable before. Even when she’s faced down Kiba or Sasuke in the sparring ring, overwhelmingly outmatched, at least she still controlled her movements, weak though they were. But now, she has no autonomy, no freedom. She cannot even physically struggle, though mentally she tries to overcome whatever it is that is possessing her body.

Suddenly, her feet begin to move, heading back toward the trunk of the tree. “What’s happening?” she demands, fear coloring her voice.

“I’m catching you,” Shikamaru says from somewhere below, tone making it clear that he thinks her question is foolish. “Now let’s go.”

Sakura’s body continues to move against her will, closer and closer to the trunk of the tree. However, she notices that the chakra she was using earlier has dissipated in the wake of Shikamaru catching her shadow, leaving her solely to rely on her balance and Shikamaru’s good will.

And Sakura knows that Shikamaru has no good will to spare her.

“Shikamaru please,” she says, breath hitching as anxiety presses down on her chest. “You win. Please let me go.”

Shikamaru is silent, but her feet continue to move. Sakura’s chest goes tight with anxiety as she contemplates the ground so far below her. It didn’t seem so high when she was in control of her body, but now…

Her foot catches on a knob sticking up from the branch and she pitches forward. The abrupt movement, something caused by the environment and not by Sakura or Shikamaru’s wills, breaks their connection. Sakura, straining as she is against their connection, falls hard to the side. Her eyes go wide, arms splaying to try and catch herself against the trunk or the branch, but she misses.

And suddenly, Sakura is falling.

Her stomach swoops as she learns the downsides that come of trying to fly. She doesn’t scream, unable to vocalize around the visceral fear that clutches her lungs and holds them fast. She turns, trying to catch herself on one of the branches or even against the tree itself.

As she turns, she briefly meets Shikamaru’s eyes as he reaches out to her. Sakura starts to reach back, but, remembering what it felt to be powerless, feelings that he caused, she hesitates.

And she plummets past him.

Sakura thinks that she hears Shikamaru scream her name, but her blood is pumping through her ears and she cannot hear anything above her heartbeat.

The limbs and branches strike at her, lashing and stinging her skin. Her fingers ache with all of her near misses, the bark tearing away at the skin there.

Still, she persists.

Sakura twists herself around as best she can, aiming for the trunk of the tree. She hits the trunk of the tree roughly head first. She attempts to channel chakra to her hands and feet, anything to help her stop her descent. And then, she manages to get her whole body against the trunk. She screams as the trunk tears her yukata, catching the soft flesh at her shins and forearms. Her chakra flickers, sputters, and dies. Sakura grits her teeth and concentrates, pushing chakra into her hands and feet.

Her fall comes to a sudden halt.

Breathing heavily, adrenaline high, Sakura looks around, realizing that she’s about four feet from the ground. Yoshino stands below her, watching Sakura carefully.

“Sakura-chan, allow me to carry you the rest of the way down,” Yoshino says, voice sounding as if it is coming from a far distant.

“No,” Sakura says firmly, barely able to hear herself over the ringing in her ears. She cannot give her agency up to anyone. She won’t let anyone hold her, trap her, again. “No.”

Sakura makes an agonizingly slow climb down the rest of the tree. She does not tree walk, instead moving down each branch one at a time. The moment she touches the ground, she is crowded by Ino, Naruto, Chōji, and the parents. Sakura’s breaths are short and shallow, unable to handle all the people crowding her, suffocating her.

She can’t breathe.

“Back up!” Ino shouts, turning to glare at everyone else. “Sakura needs space.”

Ino approaches Sakura alone, assisting Sakura to sit down and slumping against the tree trunk. Ino kneels beside her, gently touching Sakura’s hair. She begins to pet Sakura’s hair. As she does so, the pins in Sakura’s hair come free, falling into Sakura’s hands.

Sakura looks down at the pins. They are tarnished; the stars on one pin bent with one of them broken completely free and the moon pin snapped in half. She stares at the pins, scraped, raw hands beginning to tremble.

And, as the adrenaline begins to fade and the injuries begin to smart and flare with pain, Sakura bursts into tears.

They are not quiet, controlled tears. They are loud and messy and Sakura’s chest aches with the force of her sobbing. She buries her face in her scuffed and bleeding knees, shoulders heaving.

Ino stays with her, stroking through her hair and humming softly.

Everything hurts.

The skin is rubbed away on the soft inside flesh of her forearms, abraded by the rough bark of the tree. Her shins and knees are in a similar state. These injuries are shallow, but cover a large amount of skin. Some of her wounds come from the lashings she received from smaller, individual branches. These wounds are deeper and bleed openly. And all of Sakura’s muscles throb from overexertion. She’s ruined her outfit, her mother’s beautiful, borrowed pins.

“Sakura-san,” Aiko calls. Sakura looks up through bleary, red-rimmed eyes at Ino’s mother. Her voice is soft and soothing. “Sakura-san, please allow me to look at your injuries. That was quite the nasty fall. I can treat your wounds.”

“Yes Yamanaka-san,” Sakura hiccups, trying valiantly to get her crying under control.

Yoshino lands nearby, carrying Shikamaru with her. He scrambles out of her hold, moving toward Sakura. He is blocked by Naruto, Chōza, and Inoichi.

“I-I need to talk to her,” Shikamaru says, peeking at Sakura behind them.

“No!” Naruto nearly yells, his eyebrows furrowed in contempt. “You’ve already hurt her enough.”

“I have to apologize,” Shikamaru snaps, desperation clawing at his breast as Aiko and Ino assist Sakura to her feet and lead her toward their home.

Chōza places a staying hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “Not right now, Shikamaru. There is a time and a place for apologies. Sakura is in no state to hear one right now, much less accept one.”

“But I didn’t mean to,” Shikamaru says, eyes stinging as Sakura’s back grows smaller and smaller as she moves away from him. He cannot get her terrified face out of his mind, how close he came to catching her hand, the fact that she turned away, unable to trust him to help her… “I didn’t mean to.”

“Intention means little in the face of action,” Inoichi says with a severe frown, directed more toward Yoshino and Shikaku than to Shikamaru. “Every action or inaction we take has consequences.” His eerie pale eyes refocus on Shikamaru sharply. “Your kekkei genkai is a weapon, it is not a toy to be used against others.”

Shikamaru looks around, taking in the range of expressions, from the recrimination in Naruto’s eyes to the disappointment in Chōji’s to the resignation and guilt in his parents’ faces. He returns his gaze to his shaking hands, clenching them into fists.

Shikamaru, please!

This, all of this, is his fault.

You win.

Shikamaru closes his eyes against the memory of terror lining Sakura’s face as acrid bile rises in his throat.

Please let me go.

He has no idea how to fix this.

A few days after the unfortunate incident at the Ino-Shika-Cho get-together, Sakura grabs a large sweater and pants. She places them on her bed, flexing her bandaged hands. Ino’s mother knows a few simple medical ninjutsu and she was able to treat and heal the deep cuts, leaving behind only shallow marks. Aiko did what she could for the large portions of skin abraded by the tree, but she is unfamiliar with the technique used to regrow skin across such large expanses. So, she and Ino bandaged up Sakura’s hands, arms, and legs, and took Sakura home.

Sakura’s palms sting as she shifts her muscles, but she ignores the pain as she shrugs out of her pajamas and shifts into her chosen outfit. She’s glad that the weather has been cooling off as it allows her to get full coverage of her skin without piquing anyone’s attention. Though, considering who she is about to visit, Sakura knows that she’ll be heavily scrutinized.

She leaves her bedroom and heads downstairs.

“Sakura!” Mebuki calls, stepping out to meet her daughter. Her lips purse as she looks Sakura over. “Where are you heading, dear?”

“I’m going to visit Torune and Shino,” Sakura replies dutifully.

“Will that Nara brat be there?” Kizashi fairly growls, coming out to stand by Mebuki. As a man who, in his youth, trained in Iron as a samurai, he is broad in shoulder and quite intimidating with his crossed scarred arms and stormy gaze.

“No, otou-sama,” Sakura says, shoulders instinctively hunching. Her heart rate picks up as she remembers falling, falling, falling— “I haven’t seen him since the dinner.”

“Good,” Kizashi says. “If I have my way you won’t see him again.”

“He still attends the Academy,” Sakura says.

“For now,” Kizashi replies, eyes flinty.

“Otou-sama,” Sakura protests, anxiety spiking. She knows that, should it come down to it, she’ll be expelled long before Shikamaru. He is a shinobi clan heir and Sakura is just a civilian. There won’t even be a contest. And, despite everything, Sakura wants to stay at the Academy, even if it means she has to face Shikamaru every day. “Please, don’t!”

Kizashi looks down at her before sighing. “Very well,” he says.

“However, we will no longer deal with the Nara,” Mebuki says, voice brooking no argument.

“Oka-sama,” Sakura begins.

Mebuki raises a hand. “We will not deal with a family that allows a child of theirs to torment one of the Haruno clan. Especially considering that child is set to one day inherit their clan. We will not deal with a clan lacking integrity.”

Sakura nods, feeling miserable. Her interactions with Shikamaru have cost her parents a very lucrative deal working with the Nara.

Kizashi kneels beside her, cupping her shoulder. “It is no loss for us,” he says, lifting her chin to meeting her eyes. “We do not abide poor merchanting ties; we cut free the excess weight. It is a service to us to learn such things of a potential partner so early into negotiations. So shed that weight of misplaced guilt, Sakura, and we’ll begin to move forward!”

“Yes, otou-sama,” Sakura says, smiling at her parents.

“Would you like me to walk you to the Aburame compound?” Kizashi asks, concern clouding his features.

“Thank you for the offer, otou-sama,” Sakura says, politeness always coming first. “However, I think I will be alright to walk by myself.”

She doesn’t want to be coddled, she just wants everything to go back to how it was. Yet, the sting of her injuries reminds her that things are different now. Still, she can do this herself.

“Alright, dear,” Mebuki says, casting her husband a firm look when he opens his mouth to respond. He shuts his mouth. “We’ll see you when you get home.”

Sakura tells her parents goodbye as she heads out the door. She makes her way through the districts of Konoha, anxiety mounting as she navigates the crowds. It was never like this before she fell, but there’s this almost frenzied feeling that creeps up her spine, demanding that she run and flee. Sakura fights against those feelings and she makes it safely onto the Aburame grounds.

The moment she crosses into their territory, something settles within her. Sakura is safe here. No one will hurt her on these grounds.

Sakura makes her way to her home away from home, humming until the door opens. She enters the Aburame home, inhaling the scents that greet her.

“Sakura!” Torune exclaims from far away. Sakura hears the rhythmic thumping of feet as he runs her way. He suddenly appears, decked out in his birthday present from her, hair askew as he grins. “You’re here!”

He rushes forward, sweeping her up into a hug.

Immediately, Sakura groans in pain as the hug presses down upon her raw skin.

Torune releases her, hands fluttering around her as he looks her over. “Sakura?”

His voice is soft and tentative, obviously worried that he’s done something to hurt her. Sakura’s heart aches for him and she opens her mouth.

“Sakura, what’s wrong?” Shino demands, moving into the foyer, accompanied by his father.

Sakura closes her eyes, crossing her arms defensively. She wasn’t expecting it to come out so early, but why should she be surprised?

“Sakura,” Shibi says. “Are you alright, dear?”

“There…there was an accident,” Sakura says, unwilling to open her eyes. “I was injured.”

“How injured?” Shino asks, quiet but firm.

Sakura hesitates for a moment before rolling up her sleeves, displaying her bandages.

“Who did this?” Torune asks.

“It was an accident,” Sakura protests.

“Who did this?” Torune repeats, voice rising.

“It happened during a game with Shikamaru.”

Everything is silent.

Sakura cracks an eye open, mouth going dry as she takes in their expressions. She has never seen such banked, controlled rage before.

“Did it now?” Torune says, bugs beginning to rattle furiously. “And how exactly did the accident occur?”

“We were playing Lambs and Tigers,” Sakura says. “Shikamaru was the tiger. I climbed up a tree and he chased me. He used his kekkei genkai—”

“He what?” Shibi nearly barks, furious.

Sakura flinches at his raised voice, folding in on herself.

Torune’s rinkaichū quiet down as he pulls Sakura into a very gentle hug, running gloved hands through her hair. “It’s alright, Sakura. Shibi-oji isn’t angry with you.”

He continues to murmur sweet comforts to Sakura until she calms.

“I apologize for raising my voice, Sakura,” Shibi says, kneeling so that he is lower than her. “I am in no way angry with you. I am just appalled at the fact that a clan-raised child dared to use his kekkei genkai in such an unregulated manner. It is beyond inappropriate.”

“How are you feeling, Sakura?” Shino asks, moving closer.

“I’m…I’m doing better,” Sakura hedges.

“Have you seen Shikamaru since then?” Shino says.

Sakura ducks and shakes her head.

“I should demand a clan audience with the Nara,” Shibi mutters. “It is apparent that their parenting is lacking if Shikamaru believes that he can use his kekkei genkai as a plaything.”

“Please don’t,” Sakura replies, gripping Torune’s arms around her. She doesn’t know much about clan politics, but she knows that one clan calling another to an audience is a big deal. An audience has not been called in over a decade. She’s almost certain that the Aburame have never called another clan to an audience. “Please don’t do that. It was…it was an accident.”

“It was an escalation of behaviors Shikamaru already exhibited,” Shino says. “He has harassed and bullied Sakura since the field experience assignments began. He has left her with bruises in their spars at the Academy.”

Shibi’s lips flatten into a frown. “Well, at the very least I can speak with the Academy instructors and ensure that Sakura is no longer paired with Shikamaru.” Shibi looks at Sakura. “Would you like that, Sakura?”

Sakura contemplates that, an end to the constant barrage that she faces from Shikamaru. Her shoulders begin to shake with relief. “Yes, Shibi-oji. That would be—” She exhales shakily and firms her voice and shoulders. “That would be wonderful.”

Shibi takes her hand and squeezes it gently. “It shall be done. Now, let’s head to the kitchen. We can go ahead and get dinner started.”

Sakura nods, catching both Torune and Shino’s hands in hers as they relocate to the kitchen. Things may be bad right now, but Sakura knows that it will pass. And she’ll have her family around her to help her along.

Notes: So Sakura’s fall was absolutely based on something that happened to me. Except, of course, I fell because of my own dumb self. The tree scraped up my arms, legs, and stomach. I even got a small branch stuck in my left arm; there’s still a scar even over a decade later! So, fun times. There’s going to be some interesting repercussions in the upcoming chapters from what happened. I’m excited to share them with you!