Touch - Chapter 14
Title: Touch
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: PG-13
Content Notes: None
Disclaimer: I have no rights to or claims on the Naruto franchise, trademark, copyright, or characters. This is for fun, not profit.
Summary: In the future what's left of humanity sends the Rokudaime Hokage back in time to make some changes. Sadly, they can't send all of her. When a seven-year-old Haruno Sakura decides to take an interest in Hatake Kakashi, the timeline shifts in some... unique... ways.
Kakashi grimaced. He discretely edged backwards, away from the sobbing child sitting in front of his apartment door.
I just wanted to exchange books…
Kakashi was preparing to make his getaway when Obito got in his way. He was scowling with his arms cross over his chest, his goggles in place over his sockets, and his feet firmly planted.
“This is your fault.”
Kakashi shifted guiltily.
I never denied that your current condition is my fault.
It was odd and hurtful and massively relieving that Obito was finally placing the blame properly.
It’s not a good time or place to -
“Not that! That wasn’t your fault!” Obito angrily stabbed a finger in Sakura’s direction. “That is your fault. You’ve probably gone and done something insensitive. Go fix her!”
Kakashi’s eye drifted to Sensei. He stood behind the girl, looking particularly pale and grim. His lips pressed into a thin line, the Yondaime nodded.
Obito stomped his good foot. “Now Kakashi!”
So Kakashi ambled back down the hallway.
“Sakura.”
The girl ignored him entirely.
He leaned down for a quick pat to her small shoulder.
“It’s stupid and I’m not growing my fringe!”
Bewildered, Kakashi blinked down at her.
Obito and Sensei, on either side of him, were scowling at Kakashi.
“Don’t be such a coward,” snapped Obito. “Comfort her!”
If I take her home her mother can -
“Kakashi.”
Sensei only said one word but it was enough.
With a deeply put upon sigh, Kakashi picked the brat up. She sagged against him, tucking her nose under his chin.
“You don’t think I have a big, ugly forehead do you?”
“No?”
She nodded sharply.
“And I shouldn’t care what they say but I do! I can’t help it! I’m all wonky and my feelings jump all over the place and sometimes I don’t care and sometimes I do and - and - I don’t like them anyway? Why should what they say matter to me anyway?”
Kakashi sighed. His arms automatically tightened around her. While his worries had been larger in scale, Kakashi was painfully familiar with her feelings.
The girl curled her arms around the back of his neck. She clung to him like a monkey, her tears and snot wetting his throat.
Kakashi forcibly restrained himself from shuddering. He had been splattered, covered head to toe, crawled through, and even dripped with much worse things but somehow this was more intimate. The intimacy made it all so much worse. Maybe it was because the small girl producing the fluids was clinging to him while it happened.
It was all so bizarre and surreal. Normally she was impudent, irritating, and overly familiar. Her happiness and confidence were usually unassailable. Now that she was behaving like a proper child, he had no idea what to do with her.
Kakashi turned and began to walk down the hallway.
Still scowling at him, Obito and Minato kept pace with Kakashi.
On his left Obito huffed, “We should just take her with us. You’re already shamefully late. Even I think so.”
On his right, Sensei was looking much less grim and far more thoughtful.
“Pat her head,” he advised. “She likes it when you do that.”
The angle’s too awkward for that. Not everyone’s practically joint-less, Sensei.
“So rub her back,” Minato responded easily, a small smile quirking his lips. “Children like that too.”
There’s no point in comforting her. She’s probably doing all of this to get under my skin. Then she’ll stab me before I can react to her threat.
Obito and Sensei laughed at him.
“She’s just some weird form of genius,” Obito said.
“Even a chunin-ranked child is still a child, Kakashi-kun,” Sensei said with a meaningful look at Kakashi’s flak vest. “Now rub her back.”
Grudgingly, Kakashi did as he was told. The girl against his chest shuddered.
As he neared the restaurant, her sobs slowed then stopped. With a deliberateness that made him wince, she wiped her snot on the side of his masked neck.
That’s getting to be a bad habit of hers.
Obito and Sensei giggled. Not even a really good glare could get them to shut up.
Inside the restaurant Tenzo was waiting for him at a booth near one of the wide bay windows. Tenzo’s eyes were tired and there was a scrape along his jaw. When his eyes landed on Kakashi, they widened.
Kakashi pushed down his irritation and embarrassment.
So I’m carrying a snotty, pink-haired brat. So I’ve got her snot on my mask. So what? This is a surveillance operation. It’s purely business; nothing personal.
Obito laughed. “Keep telling yourself that.”
Sensei smiled gently. “It’s nice when a child looks at you like you hung the sun and moon and painted the stars. It makes you be a better man.”
She isn’t just a child. She’s… something else.
“But she loves you,” Sensei said knowingly. “Underneath the childish exterior she’s something else and underneath that she loves you unquestioningly.”
She’s not normal.
“Neither were you,” hummed Sensei. “But you turned out okay.”
“Except for this,” Obito put in suddenly, his brows furrowed as he waved between himself and Minato-sensei. “This is a bit insane.”
Kakashi ignored Obito. Instead he focused on sliding into the booth gracefully despite his burden.
The girl leaned against his side for a moment and then leaned forward and toward Tenzo who was sitting across from them. Her face was flushed and her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed but she smiled as if she was genuinely happy to see him. Her green eyes darted over Tenzo as if memorizing his face and shape and hair. One hand rose as if she wanted to reach across the table and touch him.
Tenzo startled then flashed a bright smile. “You may call me Tenzo-san.”
Sakura mouthed the name then nodded.
She’s happy to see him.
“You’re jealous!” taunted Obito. Kakashi jerked when Obito flopped onto the seat next to Tenzo, across from the pink menace. “You’re beginning to care about her.”
As Kakashi’s eyebrows began to descend into a frown, Sensei leaned over Kakashi’s shoulder. Kakashi could just see Sensei’s familiar, gentle smile from the corner of his eye.
“It’s very difficult not to like someone who likes you, Obito-kun.” Sensei gently chided. Obito grinned at Sensei unrepentantly as Sensei added, “Genius or spy, Sakura-chan likes Kakashi-kun very much.”
“It’s nice to meet you!” Sakura said to Tenzo happily. “I’m Haruno Sakura.”
She behaved as if she had not been sobbing and wiping her snot on Kakashi mere minutes ago.
Tenzo reached across the table. His fingertips gently traced the curve of her damp cheek without actually touching her.
“You’ve been crying.”
The girl’s blush had been abating. At Tenzo’s words, she flushed scarlet again.
“It’s nothing,” she mumbled.
Tenzo’s gaze had been warm and friendly when was looking at Sakura. When his gaze slid over to Kakashi, it became cool and censorious.
“Did you make her cry, Kakashi-senpai?”
Tenzo’s voice rose and broke halfway through the accusation. He flushed, matching Sakura.
“What sort of person do you think I am?” asked Kakashi, as innocently as possible.
Tenzo’s eyes narrowed.
“Kakashi-kun didn’t, Tenzo-san,” Sakura mumbled to the gleaming tabletop. “Really.”
“How come you’re being respectful to him?” demanded Kakashi. He tried to sound incensed despite being merely curious. Generally titles meant very little to him but it was the first time that he had heard Sakura put the suffix ‘san’ on anyone’s name. “I’m older than him. I’m his senpai!”
Sakura’s eyes darted up to look at Tenzo. Her face must have been hot with the strength of that blush.
“He’s more… grown up… a-and intimidating… than you are, Kakashi-kun.”
Tenzo blinked then beamed at the girl as if she was something even half as adorable as a puppy.
Kakashi stared.
Sakura shrugged and went back to alternately staring at the tabletop and sneaking peeks of Tenzo.
“Why don’t you go wash up, Sakura-kun?” Tenzo smiled winsomely at her. “The shabu-shabu should be here when you get back.”
Sakura nodded, then slipped out of the booth and headed for the back of the restaurant.
When the girl was far enough away, Tenzo raised an eyebrow at Kakashi.
Kakashi shrugged as he looked out the window. Sensei had slipped out of the restaurant at some point. He was sprawled out and napping under a tree across the street from the restaurant.
“She followed me home.”
Tenzo snickered. “Little girls aren’t puppies.”
“You’d be surprised. She won’t stop following me no matter what I do.”
Tenzo snorted. “You carried her in here.”
Obito snickered.
Kakashi ignored them both. “There’s something… odd… about that child.”
“Mmmhhmmm,” Tenzo hummed disbelievingly. “It’s not often that I meet someone who likes you.”
Kakashi scowled at his subordinate. Tenzo stared out of the window as if there was something interesting out there.
When the server brought Tenzo’s coffee, Kakashi ordered green tea for himself and Sakura.
Tenzo, who was adding cream to his black coffee, silently arched an eyebrow.
“Shut up.”
Tenzo grinned.
When Sakura came back from the bathroom, her face freshly scrubbed and her steps light and sure, she slipped into the seat next to Tenzo. Obito, who had been sitting there, merely grinned and moved to sit next to Kakashi.
Kakashi obligingly pushed the girl’s drink across the table to her new seat.
She listened while he and Tenzo gossiped and, when the girl was full, she leaned into Tenzo’s side.
At the childish sign of familiarity, Tenzo’s smile widened.
Kakashi understood the reason for Tenzo’s ridiculous happiness.
It was rare for people to feel at ease around Tenzo, much less to be familiar with him. Like Kakashi, he had been a chunin at age six. Like Yondaime’s son, the circumstances surrounding his origins made those who knew of them wary of him. Everyone else took their leads off of that.
That was one of the reasons that Tenzo was so fond of his ANBU mask. When he wore it, he was judged by his abilities rather than his identity.
Nevertheless, Kakashi was chagrinned to find he was jealous his stalker preferred Tenzo over him.
Where’s all of that unquestionable love now? He thought grumpily.
“Even cacti need water,” said Obito. He tried to look wise and knowledgeable like sensei but the fact that he was splashing the remains of his fingers in the hot water ruined the effect. “Or maybe she’s like sensei and loves lots of people. Either or.”
When Tenzo tentatively put a steadying arm around the girl’s shoulders, she snuggled into his side like a sleepy puppy. Tenzo looked so painfully happy that Kakashi felt like a bastard for even being jealous in the first place.
“Let Tenzo-kun enjoy this.” Obito advised. “You have Rin’s affections. Lucky bastard. Who does Tenzo-kun have to be kind to?”
Later, when Kakashi made to walk her back to the academy, Sakura shook her head and took off in another direction.
“I want to go see Ino-chan. She’s sick.”
Kakashi sighed. “It doesn’t matter to me where I take you so long as you aren’t following me.”
The child tossed her head and pretended not to hear him.
After that meeting Tenzo indulged and fussed over the child so much that it irritated Kakashi to watch them interact, especially when Sakura cuddled and fussed over Tenzo with equal fervor.
“It’s not fair,” Rin complained. “When I pick her up or baby her, she hits and kicks and tries to bite my fingers off. But when that creepy subordinate of yours does it, it’s all fine!”
Kakashi shrugged. He felt uncomfortable and irritable but he was uncertain as to the cause.
“It was love at first sight?”
Rin snorted. “She loved you at first sight. This is obviously some sort of freakish mind control jutsu.”
Kakashi frowned.
Rin changed the subject to his annual physical and Kakashi entirely forgot his agitation over the previous topic in favor of dodging the new one.
A week later Kakashi was horrified to find he was actually worried about the sharp pebble in the sandal of his life.
“Ne, Kakashi-san, where’s your shadow?” asked Nara Shikaku as they passed each other in the street.
Kakashi pretended to be too engrossed in Icha Icha to hear him.
“There’s a lot less pink in your wardrobe these days,” said Ichimaru after a jonin meeting.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the older man. “I’m late for a meeting.”
“Aren’t you worried about Sakura-kun?” asked Tenzo. They were doing routine maintenance on their weapons after a very brief assassination mission. “It’s not like her to leave you alone for so long.”
“Sakura got bored and decided to follow someone else around. Poor bastard.” Kakashi shrugged. “Kids do things like that all the time.”
Tenzo looked disappointed. “Not so abruptly, I hope.”
“He’d be a very good jonin-sensei,” said Minato-sensei.
He needs a dog. He just liked her because she let him be affectionate with her.
“No one likes to be lonely,” said Obito. “Who else do you think smiles at him and hugs him?”
Gai.
Obito shuddered. “That doesn’t count. It’s traumatizing. Tenzo-kun just wants someone to miss him when he’s away and to be kind to him when he’s around.”
…I’d miss him.
“You’re his team captain.” Obito said dryly. “He can’t escape you. And you aren’t kind.”
Kakashi sighed. “I’ll go… look for Sakura.”
Tenzo looked so relieved that Kakashi scowled. His hands went back to sharpening his kunai.
Snick. Snick. Ssssnnnnick.
“That’s twice you’ve referred to her by name in a single conversation,” Obito said. “That could be the start of an ugly habit.”
“Hush Obito,” scolded Sensei. He was smirking. “Can’t you see that he’s worried about Sakura-chan?”
Kakashi took pains to ignore all of his teammates after that.
He spent his morning repairing and replacing his equipment. If he happened to take the scenic route home through a civilian neighborhood, only Sensei and Obito knew it and they would never betray him.
When they alighted in the tree outside Sakura’s bedroom, their chakra masked, the pink-haired child was sitting in her window seat. She was swaddled up to her chin in blankets. Her little face was covered in livid splotches and her eyes were bright with fever. Despite the red ribbon that clashed horribly with her hair, Sakura reminded Kakashi of a cheetah - delicate, spotted, and lethal to his wellbeing.
Since the branch he touched down on was literally about a meter from the window she was looking out of, there was no way that she could fail to spot him. Sakura eagerly opened the window.
Her face lit up with the strength of her smile. An odd, squirmy feeling took up residence in Kakashi’s stomach. It was equal parts gratification, chagrin and comfort.
“Kakashi-kun! Miss me?”
Did she become ill on purpose? Was she was testing me? This proves that I’ve notice her movements.
“Relax.” hummed Obito. “Whatever her interest is in you, she genuinely seems to care for you.”
Kakashi lifted a shoulder in an approximation of a shrug.
The girl’s smile softened around the edges, as if he had actually admitted to being somewhat concerned by her disappearance. Her ability to see him clearly was disconcerting.
“I’m just sick. Ino-chan gave me the chicken pox. Were you lonely?”
“What?” Kakashi actually startled at that. “No.”
I’m never lonely. I have always have Minato-sensei and Obito with me.
Oddly, both of his teammates frowned at him for thinking that.
The girl nodded. She fingered her red ribbon. “How’s Rin-san?”
“Away. She left two days ago.”
Sakura smiled impishly. Her livid pox marks made the expression ghastly. “Do you like my ribbon?”
It looks terrible against your hair. Kakashi narrowed his eye. “Yes?”
Sakura beamed at him.
Obito gave Kakashi the thumbs-up.
You spend too much time with Gai.
Obito’s grin widened.
“I should go,” Kakashi said abruptly.
Sakura nodded. “See you soon!”
Kakashi nodded and left, ignoring the warm feeling in his chest.
What sort of person is relieved that their stalker is well? And still cares about him?
“Lonely,” said Minato-sensei gently.
When Kakashi told Tenzo that Sakura had the chicken pox, the other man just nodded. But his look of relief ignited that warm feeling in Kakashi again.
Kakashi pretended not to notice.
* * * * *
Umino Iruka was nothing if not conscientious. When Sakura actually missed a taijutsu class, he went looking for her. He started at the Memorial Stone, discarded the idea of trying to find Kakashi or the ‘special’ rooftops, and tried her home address next.
It was one thing to know that his student was the daughter of a civilian. It was something else to know that she was the daughter of a wealthy civilian.
Maybe she has a tutor? Iruka wondered. I know Sandaime-sama has already retained Ebisu-san to tutor the Honored Grandson when Ebisu-san has free time.
Sakura’s mother met him at the door. She was lovely with dark pink hair and wide blue eyes.
When Iruka mentioned his concerns over Sakura’s absence, her mother explained that the child had caught the class plague. When he mentioned Sakura’s exceptional abilities, her mother’s face tightened, her lips turned down, and her eyebrows knit together.
“And I’d really like to work with Sakura next year to hone her talents,” Iruka said earnestly. He leaned forward, toward his student’s mother. “I feel that with a strong support network both at school and at home, your daughter could be an amazing kunoichi.”
“My daughter is going to be a merchant like her father. And later, she’ll be a merchant’s wife.”
“But she said -”
“Sakura is young and doesn’t know what she really wants. Right now she thinks she was to be a kunoichi and have adventures because that’s what her friend Yamanaka Ino wants. When she’s older, she’ll see how silly her dream is and settle on something sensible.”
“Like a merchant.”
The older woman smiled thinly. “Or a teacher, if she’s as gifted as you intimate. Yours is a very respected profession.”
Iruka bit his tongue and inclined his head.
“Thank you.” He hesitated then said, “But I think Sakura would be truent less often if she were truly challenged academically while at school.”
“I’m sorry, sensei, but the less time she spends in your classes, the less time I have to spend worrying about her future.” She raised her eyebrows. “Would you like more tea?”
“Ah, no thank you.” He rose. “I have - ah - marking to do.”
Sakura mother saw him to the door.
Iruka was tempted to tell her that any child who practiced in her spare time as much as Sakura obviously did was not heading for a peaceful, civilian life.
What he actually said in lieu of a farewell was, “Sakura is obviously begging lessons off of someone. I’m paid by Konohagakure to pass my skills to a new generation. Ask yourself - and then your daughter - what her mysterious sensei demands in payment.” At the woman’s unhappy, obstinate look, Iruka fiercely added, “We’re ninja, Haruno-san. We’re predatory by trade and by nature. There’s always a price. It’s stupid to believe in a strange ninja’s good nature. More often than not, we don’t have one.”
He left after that.
Scowling and storming, Iruka made his way back to the more shinobi friendly side of the village.
That kid’s going to get herself into trouble, he thought unhappily. I’m going to have to find some other way than parents and seals to keep her at school.
* * * * *
Kakashi crouched on the branch outside the girl’s room, watching her mother shout at her over talking to strange ninja. The child quietly drank her chicken soup, ate her toast, and endured the lecture.
Obito sat next to Kakashi, swinging his legs and whistling tunelessly.
I wish you’d stop that. Even civilians will notice someone as noisy as you.
Obito grinned. “You look worried. Afraid she’ll stop talking to you after this?”
I don’t care what she decides to do. But Tenzo would miss her smiles and hugs.
The troubling thought that Kakashi himself would miss her presence and happiness and hearing her say I love you was one that Kakashi kept to himself.
Sensei peeked at Kakashi from over the top of his novel. The look in his eyes was uncomfortably knowledgable. Minato-sensei had always been able to see underneath Kakashi’s underneath.
“So you do care about the brat,” Obito persisted.
I don’t care for or about her.
“You’re checking up on her,” Obito pointed out.
She isn’t a normal child.
Obito snorted and rolled his eyes at Kakashi.
“So what? It’s not like she’s busy ferreting out sensitive information. What would you know about normal children, anyway? Your reactions were never quite right.”
Sensei lounged along the length of a nearby branch with his back propped up against the trunk. Without looking up from Jiraya’s latest book he murmured, “She knows you’re here, Kaka-sensei.”
Kakashi glared up at his teacher. The blond man, perhaps sensing his wrath, lowered his book long enough to smirk down at his student. “It’s a cute nickname.”
Kakashi scowled.
Sensei smirked as he returned to reading his dirty novel.
“You must be losing it,” Obito noted happily. “She’s found you and she’s just a little kid.”
Kakashi transferred his scowl to the half crushed boy.
She isn’t just a child. She isn’t ‘just’ anything.
“So what is she?”
Kakashi looked away, refusing to answer. Obito, interpreting his silence correctly, cackled gleefully.
“You don’t know, do you? Some genius!”
You don’t know either!
“I’m not a genius,” Obito admitted easily.
The girl looked over her mother’s shoulder. Her large green eyes were still overly bright from her illness but she smiled brilliantly at the spot of foliage where Kakashi was. Kakashi narrowed his eye. A hand seal later, the tree branch outside of Sakura’s bedroom window was empty.
* * * * *
Sakura, propped up by pillows and wrapped in blankets, drowsed in the sunlight. Clutched in her arms was a stuffed bunny. Sakura had woken up yesterday and there it was, snuggled up under her chin. She was uncertain where it had come from or who had given it to her but it was soft and its floppy ears were adorable and it was just the right size for a little girl to cuddle.
Rokudaime was deeply suspicious of the stuffed animal.
Sakura adored it.
Mmmmm… Sleepy.
Someone was watching her. Sakura was almost positive that it was Kakashi which really only made her feel better and even more sleepy.
“It’s good to see you haven’t died yet.”
Sakura shrieked and nearly fell out of the lawn chair she had been bundled into. The stuffed white bunny in her arms went flying into the carefully manicured bushes. A few blankets and pillows landed in a brightly colored heap under her chair. She glared murderously at the blank-faced man who had seemingly just appeared next to her lawn chair.
“How do you do that?”
“Sorry.”
He didn’t even put any effort into his lie. It was delivered flatly and without a teasing edge to soften it.
“You are not!”
He was still really irritating though.
Kakashi beamed. It was a huge, fake smile that curved his eyes and stretched his mouth wide under his mask.
“You’re right. I’m not.”
His eyes drifted to something to her right then to something standing behind her. Since they were the only two in the garden, she was pretty sure that he was communing with the voices again.
It’s important to remember that this Kakashi is nuts. Rokudaime reminded Sakura. And to hope like hell the voices aren’t telling him to kill you.
You… aren’t very good at just enjoying stuff, are you?
Kakashi leaned down and picked up her pillows and blankets. Kakashi stared at them blankly for a moment then dumped the lot of them in her lap. At least the voices seemed to be kind.
Sakura looked up from the heap of bedding in her lap when the stuffed bunny, only slightly dirty from its visit to the bushes, landed on top of the bedding.
Kakashi was gone.
The backdoor slammed open. Ino burst into the garden, a flower arrangement in her arms. In her wake ambled Shikamaru, a shogi board tucked under one arm. Choji trotted after them, munching on chips.
“We’ve come to visit.”
Sakura beamed at her first friend. “Hi Ino-chan!”
The flowers in Ino’s arrangement were bright and conveyed the hidden hope for Sakura’s good health and continued friendship. To Sakura’s eyes it was beautiful.
“I did it myself! It means I hope you get well and I long for your continued friendship!” Ino grimaced. “And I’m sorry I got you sick. Blame Choji-kun!”
“Hey!”
“You got sick first!”
“You coughed on her!”
“I didn’t cough!”
“I didn’t get this sick!”
“It’s not Sakura-chan’s fault that she’s so sick!”
“It’s very beautiful!” Sakura said sincerely. “Thank you, Ino-chan.”
Ino set the vase on the patio’s table where Shikamaru was setting up the shogi board and pieces.
“My dad said that you can’t play anything fun yet so I brought Shikamaru-kun to play shogi with you.”
“Do you know how to play?” Shikamaru asked. His tone was bored and not especially hopeful.
Sakura nodded. Rokudaime’s Shikamaru had taught her after everything went wrong. He had come to visit and play shogi with her after his missions, during their strategy sessions, and on rainy afternoons.
Rokudaime’s feelings of comfort and fondness warmed Sakura’s heart.
This younger Shikamaru blinked but did not seem particularly impressed by the admission.
Sakura smirked. Ha! He’ll be impressed when we win!
You’re stealing the rules of the game off of me. Isn’t that enough cheating?
No way! Look at Shikamaru-kun! He expects me to lose!
So do your best.
Pfft! Meanie!
You’d better concentrate. Shikamaru is a tricky opponent.
Shikamaru won their first game so Sakura immediately demanded a second.
Shikamaru really is a super genius, Sakura thought while studying Shikamaru across the shogi board.
His fingers were steepled as he evaluated the board and plotted against her. Ino and Choji had left ages ago. Ino left because she was bored. Choji left to go help his mother with dinner.
It’s too bad that Asuma-sensei will be the first person to acknowledge this part of him. Rokudaime agreed. Ooohhh. Good move, Shikamaru-kun.
What? What’d he do?
Do your best.
ARGH!
When their second game ended, Sakura stretched. “I’m sorry, Shikamaru-kun. I’m too tired to play another game.”
He nodded. “I could stop by again tomorrow.”
Sakura smiled. She was proud he wanted to play with her again even though he had won both games.
“That’d be great!” Sakura’s smiled wavered a bit. “Ne, could you do me a favor, Shikamaru-kun?”
“Tch. Depends. What is it?”
“Uzumaki Naruto goes to the academy too. He’s a year ahead of us. He’s got yellow hair and wears these huge goggles on the top of his head and a white T-shirt with a flame on the stomach. He’ll probably be wearing something orange too. Could you tell him that I’d have come around but I’m really, really sick? And that I’ll see him when I’m better?”
“That’s troublesome.”
“Please?”
Shikamaru hesitated for a long, tense moment. Then he sighed and shrugged. “Whatever.”
Sakura beamed. “Thanks Shikamaru-kun!”
“Just don’t tell Ino-chan that I did this for you. She’ll be troublesome about it.”
Sakura laughed.
The next afternoon, Naruto interrupted Sakura’s afternoon nap.
“Sakura-chan!” He shouted as he banged on her locked balcony door.
Sakura startled awake. Her glare melted into a smile. She staggered out of bed and went to open the door for him.
Naruto immediately swept her into a hug.
“Naruto-kun! How’d you get up here?”
“I used a rope. These weird guys found me at lunch. They said that you were sick!”
“I am,” Sakura said as she hugged him back just as hard. “But I’m getting better.”
He nodded. When the hug ended, he said, “I’ve brought you some things to help you get well.”
Naruto pulled a battered packet of instant ramen out of one pocket and a handful of bedraggled dandelions out of the other.
Sakura smiled so widely that her face hurt. “Those are wonderful!”
Naruto flushed. “I like ramen. And old man Ichiraku says that girls like flowers.”
Sakura nodded as she carefully accepted her gifts. The dandelions’ stems were immediately set into the glass of water at her bedside.
“He’s right. I love them. And I love the ramen too.”
Naruto beamed. His little chest puffed out with pride.
Sakura cast her mind around for anything in her room that Naruto might find entertaining.
“Ne, Naruto, have you ever played Go Fish?”
Naruto came by nearly every day after school. But the more often Naruto visited, the less often Kakashi popped in to check that she was still alive. No matter how happy Naruto, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji, Sakura began to worry about Kakashi.
Is he on a mission? Or is he afraid to see Yondaime’s son?
He’s fine.
But he gets so lonely.
He got along before he met you. I’m sure Kakashi is getting along just fine now.
Stupid, sick body!
Rokudaime sighed. Why don’t we think about anything else?
Stupid grown ups!
You do know that I’m still here right?
Hmph.
We should work on our sealing. Wouldn’t you like to work on our sealing?
You’re just trying to distract me.
Is it working?
…Yes.
Sakura fished her altered textbook, her sealing notebooks, and her pencil out from under her bed.
When Sakura had first opened up the sealing textbook, she had been horrified. There were just chapters and chapters of tables filled with symbols and their reverse or half selves and the elements sympathetic to them at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels and their meanings and chapters and chapters of what happened when this symbol was combined with that symbol in this very specific way. If the symbols were combined in some other way, even if the differences were so tiny that Sakura barely noticed them, or with additional symbols between, around, or near them then something entirely different happened. Or nothing happened at all. Or you died.
The book was sort of vague on that part.
It’ll take forever! Sakura had wailed. I don’t even understand any of this! And the writing is tiny!
Relax. You can do this. Everything’s going to be fine.
It was impossible to disbelieve Inner Sakura when she used that terribly soothing tone of voice.
So Sakura and Rokudaime studied the syllabaries every day, copying their lines and curves and memorizing their meanings. Even with help, it was hard. It was like learning a new language.
Just as Sakura had once learned to read and write by memorizing the syllabaries of her language, Sakura started to learn sealing by practicing and memorizing the lines and squiggles that made up the most basic sealing “syllabaries.”
Frankly, Sakura could see why it was such an unpopular ninja art.
Bunny agreed with her.
Rokudaime made her practice it everyday in lieu of taijutsu. She was mean like that.
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: PG-13
Content Notes: None
Disclaimer: I have no rights to or claims on the Naruto franchise, trademark, copyright, or characters. This is for fun, not profit.
Summary: In the future what's left of humanity sends the Rokudaime Hokage back in time to make some changes. Sadly, they can't send all of her. When a seven-year-old Haruno Sakura decides to take an interest in Hatake Kakashi, the timeline shifts in some... unique... ways.
Kakashi grimaced. He discretely edged backwards, away from the sobbing child sitting in front of his apartment door.
I just wanted to exchange books…
Kakashi was preparing to make his getaway when Obito got in his way. He was scowling with his arms cross over his chest, his goggles in place over his sockets, and his feet firmly planted.
“This is your fault.”
Kakashi shifted guiltily.
I never denied that your current condition is my fault.
It was odd and hurtful and massively relieving that Obito was finally placing the blame properly.
It’s not a good time or place to -
“Not that! That wasn’t your fault!” Obito angrily stabbed a finger in Sakura’s direction. “That is your fault. You’ve probably gone and done something insensitive. Go fix her!”
Kakashi’s eye drifted to Sensei. He stood behind the girl, looking particularly pale and grim. His lips pressed into a thin line, the Yondaime nodded.
Obito stomped his good foot. “Now Kakashi!”
So Kakashi ambled back down the hallway.
“Sakura.”
The girl ignored him entirely.
He leaned down for a quick pat to her small shoulder.
“It’s stupid and I’m not growing my fringe!”
Bewildered, Kakashi blinked down at her.
Obito and Sensei, on either side of him, were scowling at Kakashi.
“Don’t be such a coward,” snapped Obito. “Comfort her!”
If I take her home her mother can -
“Kakashi.”
Sensei only said one word but it was enough.
With a deeply put upon sigh, Kakashi picked the brat up. She sagged against him, tucking her nose under his chin.
“You don’t think I have a big, ugly forehead do you?”
“No?”
She nodded sharply.
“And I shouldn’t care what they say but I do! I can’t help it! I’m all wonky and my feelings jump all over the place and sometimes I don’t care and sometimes I do and - and - I don’t like them anyway? Why should what they say matter to me anyway?”
Kakashi sighed. His arms automatically tightened around her. While his worries had been larger in scale, Kakashi was painfully familiar with her feelings.
The girl curled her arms around the back of his neck. She clung to him like a monkey, her tears and snot wetting his throat.
Kakashi forcibly restrained himself from shuddering. He had been splattered, covered head to toe, crawled through, and even dripped with much worse things but somehow this was more intimate. The intimacy made it all so much worse. Maybe it was because the small girl producing the fluids was clinging to him while it happened.
It was all so bizarre and surreal. Normally she was impudent, irritating, and overly familiar. Her happiness and confidence were usually unassailable. Now that she was behaving like a proper child, he had no idea what to do with her.
Kakashi turned and began to walk down the hallway.
Still scowling at him, Obito and Minato kept pace with Kakashi.
On his left Obito huffed, “We should just take her with us. You’re already shamefully late. Even I think so.”
On his right, Sensei was looking much less grim and far more thoughtful.
“Pat her head,” he advised. “She likes it when you do that.”
The angle’s too awkward for that. Not everyone’s practically joint-less, Sensei.
“So rub her back,” Minato responded easily, a small smile quirking his lips. “Children like that too.”
There’s no point in comforting her. She’s probably doing all of this to get under my skin. Then she’ll stab me before I can react to her threat.
Obito and Sensei laughed at him.
“She’s just some weird form of genius,” Obito said.
“Even a chunin-ranked child is still a child, Kakashi-kun,” Sensei said with a meaningful look at Kakashi’s flak vest. “Now rub her back.”
Grudgingly, Kakashi did as he was told. The girl against his chest shuddered.
As he neared the restaurant, her sobs slowed then stopped. With a deliberateness that made him wince, she wiped her snot on the side of his masked neck.
That’s getting to be a bad habit of hers.
Obito and Sensei giggled. Not even a really good glare could get them to shut up.
Inside the restaurant Tenzo was waiting for him at a booth near one of the wide bay windows. Tenzo’s eyes were tired and there was a scrape along his jaw. When his eyes landed on Kakashi, they widened.
Kakashi pushed down his irritation and embarrassment.
So I’m carrying a snotty, pink-haired brat. So I’ve got her snot on my mask. So what? This is a surveillance operation. It’s purely business; nothing personal.
Obito laughed. “Keep telling yourself that.”
Sensei smiled gently. “It’s nice when a child looks at you like you hung the sun and moon and painted the stars. It makes you be a better man.”
She isn’t just a child. She’s… something else.
“But she loves you,” Sensei said knowingly. “Underneath the childish exterior she’s something else and underneath that she loves you unquestioningly.”
She’s not normal.
“Neither were you,” hummed Sensei. “But you turned out okay.”
“Except for this,” Obito put in suddenly, his brows furrowed as he waved between himself and Minato-sensei. “This is a bit insane.”
Kakashi ignored Obito. Instead he focused on sliding into the booth gracefully despite his burden.
The girl leaned against his side for a moment and then leaned forward and toward Tenzo who was sitting across from them. Her face was flushed and her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed but she smiled as if she was genuinely happy to see him. Her green eyes darted over Tenzo as if memorizing his face and shape and hair. One hand rose as if she wanted to reach across the table and touch him.
Tenzo startled then flashed a bright smile. “You may call me Tenzo-san.”
Sakura mouthed the name then nodded.
She’s happy to see him.
“You’re jealous!” taunted Obito. Kakashi jerked when Obito flopped onto the seat next to Tenzo, across from the pink menace. “You’re beginning to care about her.”
As Kakashi’s eyebrows began to descend into a frown, Sensei leaned over Kakashi’s shoulder. Kakashi could just see Sensei’s familiar, gentle smile from the corner of his eye.
“It’s very difficult not to like someone who likes you, Obito-kun.” Sensei gently chided. Obito grinned at Sensei unrepentantly as Sensei added, “Genius or spy, Sakura-chan likes Kakashi-kun very much.”
“It’s nice to meet you!” Sakura said to Tenzo happily. “I’m Haruno Sakura.”
She behaved as if she had not been sobbing and wiping her snot on Kakashi mere minutes ago.
Tenzo reached across the table. His fingertips gently traced the curve of her damp cheek without actually touching her.
“You’ve been crying.”
The girl’s blush had been abating. At Tenzo’s words, she flushed scarlet again.
“It’s nothing,” she mumbled.
Tenzo’s gaze had been warm and friendly when was looking at Sakura. When his gaze slid over to Kakashi, it became cool and censorious.
“Did you make her cry, Kakashi-senpai?”
Tenzo’s voice rose and broke halfway through the accusation. He flushed, matching Sakura.
“What sort of person do you think I am?” asked Kakashi, as innocently as possible.
Tenzo’s eyes narrowed.
“Kakashi-kun didn’t, Tenzo-san,” Sakura mumbled to the gleaming tabletop. “Really.”
“How come you’re being respectful to him?” demanded Kakashi. He tried to sound incensed despite being merely curious. Generally titles meant very little to him but it was the first time that he had heard Sakura put the suffix ‘san’ on anyone’s name. “I’m older than him. I’m his senpai!”
Sakura’s eyes darted up to look at Tenzo. Her face must have been hot with the strength of that blush.
“He’s more… grown up… a-and intimidating… than you are, Kakashi-kun.”
Tenzo blinked then beamed at the girl as if she was something even half as adorable as a puppy.
Kakashi stared.
Sakura shrugged and went back to alternately staring at the tabletop and sneaking peeks of Tenzo.
“Why don’t you go wash up, Sakura-kun?” Tenzo smiled winsomely at her. “The shabu-shabu should be here when you get back.”
Sakura nodded, then slipped out of the booth and headed for the back of the restaurant.
When the girl was far enough away, Tenzo raised an eyebrow at Kakashi.
Kakashi shrugged as he looked out the window. Sensei had slipped out of the restaurant at some point. He was sprawled out and napping under a tree across the street from the restaurant.
“She followed me home.”
Tenzo snickered. “Little girls aren’t puppies.”
“You’d be surprised. She won’t stop following me no matter what I do.”
Tenzo snorted. “You carried her in here.”
Obito snickered.
Kakashi ignored them both. “There’s something… odd… about that child.”
“Mmmhhmmm,” Tenzo hummed disbelievingly. “It’s not often that I meet someone who likes you.”
Kakashi scowled at his subordinate. Tenzo stared out of the window as if there was something interesting out there.
When the server brought Tenzo’s coffee, Kakashi ordered green tea for himself and Sakura.
Tenzo, who was adding cream to his black coffee, silently arched an eyebrow.
“Shut up.”
Tenzo grinned.
When Sakura came back from the bathroom, her face freshly scrubbed and her steps light and sure, she slipped into the seat next to Tenzo. Obito, who had been sitting there, merely grinned and moved to sit next to Kakashi.
Kakashi obligingly pushed the girl’s drink across the table to her new seat.
She listened while he and Tenzo gossiped and, when the girl was full, she leaned into Tenzo’s side.
At the childish sign of familiarity, Tenzo’s smile widened.
Kakashi understood the reason for Tenzo’s ridiculous happiness.
It was rare for people to feel at ease around Tenzo, much less to be familiar with him. Like Kakashi, he had been a chunin at age six. Like Yondaime’s son, the circumstances surrounding his origins made those who knew of them wary of him. Everyone else took their leads off of that.
That was one of the reasons that Tenzo was so fond of his ANBU mask. When he wore it, he was judged by his abilities rather than his identity.
Nevertheless, Kakashi was chagrinned to find he was jealous his stalker preferred Tenzo over him.
Where’s all of that unquestionable love now? He thought grumpily.
“Even cacti need water,” said Obito. He tried to look wise and knowledgeable like sensei but the fact that he was splashing the remains of his fingers in the hot water ruined the effect. “Or maybe she’s like sensei and loves lots of people. Either or.”
When Tenzo tentatively put a steadying arm around the girl’s shoulders, she snuggled into his side like a sleepy puppy. Tenzo looked so painfully happy that Kakashi felt like a bastard for even being jealous in the first place.
“Let Tenzo-kun enjoy this.” Obito advised. “You have Rin’s affections. Lucky bastard. Who does Tenzo-kun have to be kind to?”
Later, when Kakashi made to walk her back to the academy, Sakura shook her head and took off in another direction.
“I want to go see Ino-chan. She’s sick.”
Kakashi sighed. “It doesn’t matter to me where I take you so long as you aren’t following me.”
The child tossed her head and pretended not to hear him.
After that meeting Tenzo indulged and fussed over the child so much that it irritated Kakashi to watch them interact, especially when Sakura cuddled and fussed over Tenzo with equal fervor.
“It’s not fair,” Rin complained. “When I pick her up or baby her, she hits and kicks and tries to bite my fingers off. But when that creepy subordinate of yours does it, it’s all fine!”
Kakashi shrugged. He felt uncomfortable and irritable but he was uncertain as to the cause.
“It was love at first sight?”
Rin snorted. “She loved you at first sight. This is obviously some sort of freakish mind control jutsu.”
Kakashi frowned.
Rin changed the subject to his annual physical and Kakashi entirely forgot his agitation over the previous topic in favor of dodging the new one.
A week later Kakashi was horrified to find he was actually worried about the sharp pebble in the sandal of his life.
“Ne, Kakashi-san, where’s your shadow?” asked Nara Shikaku as they passed each other in the street.
Kakashi pretended to be too engrossed in Icha Icha to hear him.
“There’s a lot less pink in your wardrobe these days,” said Ichimaru after a jonin meeting.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the older man. “I’m late for a meeting.”
“Aren’t you worried about Sakura-kun?” asked Tenzo. They were doing routine maintenance on their weapons after a very brief assassination mission. “It’s not like her to leave you alone for so long.”
“Sakura got bored and decided to follow someone else around. Poor bastard.” Kakashi shrugged. “Kids do things like that all the time.”
Tenzo looked disappointed. “Not so abruptly, I hope.”
“He’d be a very good jonin-sensei,” said Minato-sensei.
He needs a dog. He just liked her because she let him be affectionate with her.
“No one likes to be lonely,” said Obito. “Who else do you think smiles at him and hugs him?”
Gai.
Obito shuddered. “That doesn’t count. It’s traumatizing. Tenzo-kun just wants someone to miss him when he’s away and to be kind to him when he’s around.”
…I’d miss him.
“You’re his team captain.” Obito said dryly. “He can’t escape you. And you aren’t kind.”
Kakashi sighed. “I’ll go… look for Sakura.”
Tenzo looked so relieved that Kakashi scowled. His hands went back to sharpening his kunai.
Snick. Snick. Ssssnnnnick.
“That’s twice you’ve referred to her by name in a single conversation,” Obito said. “That could be the start of an ugly habit.”
“Hush Obito,” scolded Sensei. He was smirking. “Can’t you see that he’s worried about Sakura-chan?”
Kakashi took pains to ignore all of his teammates after that.
He spent his morning repairing and replacing his equipment. If he happened to take the scenic route home through a civilian neighborhood, only Sensei and Obito knew it and they would never betray him.
When they alighted in the tree outside Sakura’s bedroom, their chakra masked, the pink-haired child was sitting in her window seat. She was swaddled up to her chin in blankets. Her little face was covered in livid splotches and her eyes were bright with fever. Despite the red ribbon that clashed horribly with her hair, Sakura reminded Kakashi of a cheetah - delicate, spotted, and lethal to his wellbeing.
Since the branch he touched down on was literally about a meter from the window she was looking out of, there was no way that she could fail to spot him. Sakura eagerly opened the window.
Her face lit up with the strength of her smile. An odd, squirmy feeling took up residence in Kakashi’s stomach. It was equal parts gratification, chagrin and comfort.
“Kakashi-kun! Miss me?”
Did she become ill on purpose? Was she was testing me? This proves that I’ve notice her movements.
“Relax.” hummed Obito. “Whatever her interest is in you, she genuinely seems to care for you.”
Kakashi lifted a shoulder in an approximation of a shrug.
The girl’s smile softened around the edges, as if he had actually admitted to being somewhat concerned by her disappearance. Her ability to see him clearly was disconcerting.
“I’m just sick. Ino-chan gave me the chicken pox. Were you lonely?”
“What?” Kakashi actually startled at that. “No.”
I’m never lonely. I have always have Minato-sensei and Obito with me.
Oddly, both of his teammates frowned at him for thinking that.
The girl nodded. She fingered her red ribbon. “How’s Rin-san?”
“Away. She left two days ago.”
Sakura smiled impishly. Her livid pox marks made the expression ghastly. “Do you like my ribbon?”
It looks terrible against your hair. Kakashi narrowed his eye. “Yes?”
Sakura beamed at him.
Obito gave Kakashi the thumbs-up.
You spend too much time with Gai.
Obito’s grin widened.
“I should go,” Kakashi said abruptly.
Sakura nodded. “See you soon!”
Kakashi nodded and left, ignoring the warm feeling in his chest.
What sort of person is relieved that their stalker is well? And still cares about him?
“Lonely,” said Minato-sensei gently.
When Kakashi told Tenzo that Sakura had the chicken pox, the other man just nodded. But his look of relief ignited that warm feeling in Kakashi again.
Kakashi pretended not to notice.
* * * * *
Umino Iruka was nothing if not conscientious. When Sakura actually missed a taijutsu class, he went looking for her. He started at the Memorial Stone, discarded the idea of trying to find Kakashi or the ‘special’ rooftops, and tried her home address next.
It was one thing to know that his student was the daughter of a civilian. It was something else to know that she was the daughter of a wealthy civilian.
Maybe she has a tutor? Iruka wondered. I know Sandaime-sama has already retained Ebisu-san to tutor the Honored Grandson when Ebisu-san has free time.
Sakura’s mother met him at the door. She was lovely with dark pink hair and wide blue eyes.
When Iruka mentioned his concerns over Sakura’s absence, her mother explained that the child had caught the class plague. When he mentioned Sakura’s exceptional abilities, her mother’s face tightened, her lips turned down, and her eyebrows knit together.
“And I’d really like to work with Sakura next year to hone her talents,” Iruka said earnestly. He leaned forward, toward his student’s mother. “I feel that with a strong support network both at school and at home, your daughter could be an amazing kunoichi.”
“My daughter is going to be a merchant like her father. And later, she’ll be a merchant’s wife.”
“But she said -”
“Sakura is young and doesn’t know what she really wants. Right now she thinks she was to be a kunoichi and have adventures because that’s what her friend Yamanaka Ino wants. When she’s older, she’ll see how silly her dream is and settle on something sensible.”
“Like a merchant.”
The older woman smiled thinly. “Or a teacher, if she’s as gifted as you intimate. Yours is a very respected profession.”
Iruka bit his tongue and inclined his head.
“Thank you.” He hesitated then said, “But I think Sakura would be truent less often if she were truly challenged academically while at school.”
“I’m sorry, sensei, but the less time she spends in your classes, the less time I have to spend worrying about her future.” She raised her eyebrows. “Would you like more tea?”
“Ah, no thank you.” He rose. “I have - ah - marking to do.”
Sakura mother saw him to the door.
Iruka was tempted to tell her that any child who practiced in her spare time as much as Sakura obviously did was not heading for a peaceful, civilian life.
What he actually said in lieu of a farewell was, “Sakura is obviously begging lessons off of someone. I’m paid by Konohagakure to pass my skills to a new generation. Ask yourself - and then your daughter - what her mysterious sensei demands in payment.” At the woman’s unhappy, obstinate look, Iruka fiercely added, “We’re ninja, Haruno-san. We’re predatory by trade and by nature. There’s always a price. It’s stupid to believe in a strange ninja’s good nature. More often than not, we don’t have one.”
He left after that.
Scowling and storming, Iruka made his way back to the more shinobi friendly side of the village.
That kid’s going to get herself into trouble, he thought unhappily. I’m going to have to find some other way than parents and seals to keep her at school.
* * * * *
Kakashi crouched on the branch outside the girl’s room, watching her mother shout at her over talking to strange ninja. The child quietly drank her chicken soup, ate her toast, and endured the lecture.
Obito sat next to Kakashi, swinging his legs and whistling tunelessly.
I wish you’d stop that. Even civilians will notice someone as noisy as you.
Obito grinned. “You look worried. Afraid she’ll stop talking to you after this?”
I don’t care what she decides to do. But Tenzo would miss her smiles and hugs.
The troubling thought that Kakashi himself would miss her presence and happiness and hearing her say I love you was one that Kakashi kept to himself.
Sensei peeked at Kakashi from over the top of his novel. The look in his eyes was uncomfortably knowledgable. Minato-sensei had always been able to see underneath Kakashi’s underneath.
“So you do care about the brat,” Obito persisted.
I don’t care for or about her.
“You’re checking up on her,” Obito pointed out.
She isn’t a normal child.
Obito snorted and rolled his eyes at Kakashi.
“So what? It’s not like she’s busy ferreting out sensitive information. What would you know about normal children, anyway? Your reactions were never quite right.”
Sensei lounged along the length of a nearby branch with his back propped up against the trunk. Without looking up from Jiraya’s latest book he murmured, “She knows you’re here, Kaka-sensei.”
Kakashi glared up at his teacher. The blond man, perhaps sensing his wrath, lowered his book long enough to smirk down at his student. “It’s a cute nickname.”
Kakashi scowled.
Sensei smirked as he returned to reading his dirty novel.
“You must be losing it,” Obito noted happily. “She’s found you and she’s just a little kid.”
Kakashi transferred his scowl to the half crushed boy.
She isn’t just a child. She isn’t ‘just’ anything.
“So what is she?”
Kakashi looked away, refusing to answer. Obito, interpreting his silence correctly, cackled gleefully.
“You don’t know, do you? Some genius!”
You don’t know either!
“I’m not a genius,” Obito admitted easily.
The girl looked over her mother’s shoulder. Her large green eyes were still overly bright from her illness but she smiled brilliantly at the spot of foliage where Kakashi was. Kakashi narrowed his eye. A hand seal later, the tree branch outside of Sakura’s bedroom window was empty.
* * * * *
Sakura, propped up by pillows and wrapped in blankets, drowsed in the sunlight. Clutched in her arms was a stuffed bunny. Sakura had woken up yesterday and there it was, snuggled up under her chin. She was uncertain where it had come from or who had given it to her but it was soft and its floppy ears were adorable and it was just the right size for a little girl to cuddle.
Rokudaime was deeply suspicious of the stuffed animal.
Sakura adored it.
Mmmmm… Sleepy.
Someone was watching her. Sakura was almost positive that it was Kakashi which really only made her feel better and even more sleepy.
“It’s good to see you haven’t died yet.”
Sakura shrieked and nearly fell out of the lawn chair she had been bundled into. The stuffed white bunny in her arms went flying into the carefully manicured bushes. A few blankets and pillows landed in a brightly colored heap under her chair. She glared murderously at the blank-faced man who had seemingly just appeared next to her lawn chair.
“How do you do that?”
“Sorry.”
He didn’t even put any effort into his lie. It was delivered flatly and without a teasing edge to soften it.
“You are not!”
He was still really irritating though.
Kakashi beamed. It was a huge, fake smile that curved his eyes and stretched his mouth wide under his mask.
“You’re right. I’m not.”
His eyes drifted to something to her right then to something standing behind her. Since they were the only two in the garden, she was pretty sure that he was communing with the voices again.
It’s important to remember that this Kakashi is nuts. Rokudaime reminded Sakura. And to hope like hell the voices aren’t telling him to kill you.
You… aren’t very good at just enjoying stuff, are you?
Kakashi leaned down and picked up her pillows and blankets. Kakashi stared at them blankly for a moment then dumped the lot of them in her lap. At least the voices seemed to be kind.
Sakura looked up from the heap of bedding in her lap when the stuffed bunny, only slightly dirty from its visit to the bushes, landed on top of the bedding.
Kakashi was gone.
The backdoor slammed open. Ino burst into the garden, a flower arrangement in her arms. In her wake ambled Shikamaru, a shogi board tucked under one arm. Choji trotted after them, munching on chips.
“We’ve come to visit.”
Sakura beamed at her first friend. “Hi Ino-chan!”
The flowers in Ino’s arrangement were bright and conveyed the hidden hope for Sakura’s good health and continued friendship. To Sakura’s eyes it was beautiful.
“I did it myself! It means I hope you get well and I long for your continued friendship!” Ino grimaced. “And I’m sorry I got you sick. Blame Choji-kun!”
“Hey!”
“You got sick first!”
“You coughed on her!”
“I didn’t cough!”
“I didn’t get this sick!”
“It’s not Sakura-chan’s fault that she’s so sick!”
“It’s very beautiful!” Sakura said sincerely. “Thank you, Ino-chan.”
Ino set the vase on the patio’s table where Shikamaru was setting up the shogi board and pieces.
“My dad said that you can’t play anything fun yet so I brought Shikamaru-kun to play shogi with you.”
“Do you know how to play?” Shikamaru asked. His tone was bored and not especially hopeful.
Sakura nodded. Rokudaime’s Shikamaru had taught her after everything went wrong. He had come to visit and play shogi with her after his missions, during their strategy sessions, and on rainy afternoons.
Rokudaime’s feelings of comfort and fondness warmed Sakura’s heart.
This younger Shikamaru blinked but did not seem particularly impressed by the admission.
Sakura smirked. Ha! He’ll be impressed when we win!
You’re stealing the rules of the game off of me. Isn’t that enough cheating?
No way! Look at Shikamaru-kun! He expects me to lose!
So do your best.
Pfft! Meanie!
You’d better concentrate. Shikamaru is a tricky opponent.
Shikamaru won their first game so Sakura immediately demanded a second.
Shikamaru really is a super genius, Sakura thought while studying Shikamaru across the shogi board.
His fingers were steepled as he evaluated the board and plotted against her. Ino and Choji had left ages ago. Ino left because she was bored. Choji left to go help his mother with dinner.
It’s too bad that Asuma-sensei will be the first person to acknowledge this part of him. Rokudaime agreed. Ooohhh. Good move, Shikamaru-kun.
What? What’d he do?
Do your best.
ARGH!
When their second game ended, Sakura stretched. “I’m sorry, Shikamaru-kun. I’m too tired to play another game.”
He nodded. “I could stop by again tomorrow.”
Sakura smiled. She was proud he wanted to play with her again even though he had won both games.
“That’d be great!” Sakura’s smiled wavered a bit. “Ne, could you do me a favor, Shikamaru-kun?”
“Tch. Depends. What is it?”
“Uzumaki Naruto goes to the academy too. He’s a year ahead of us. He’s got yellow hair and wears these huge goggles on the top of his head and a white T-shirt with a flame on the stomach. He’ll probably be wearing something orange too. Could you tell him that I’d have come around but I’m really, really sick? And that I’ll see him when I’m better?”
“That’s troublesome.”
“Please?”
Shikamaru hesitated for a long, tense moment. Then he sighed and shrugged. “Whatever.”
Sakura beamed. “Thanks Shikamaru-kun!”
“Just don’t tell Ino-chan that I did this for you. She’ll be troublesome about it.”
Sakura laughed.
The next afternoon, Naruto interrupted Sakura’s afternoon nap.
“Sakura-chan!” He shouted as he banged on her locked balcony door.
Sakura startled awake. Her glare melted into a smile. She staggered out of bed and went to open the door for him.
Naruto immediately swept her into a hug.
“Naruto-kun! How’d you get up here?”
“I used a rope. These weird guys found me at lunch. They said that you were sick!”
“I am,” Sakura said as she hugged him back just as hard. “But I’m getting better.”
He nodded. When the hug ended, he said, “I’ve brought you some things to help you get well.”
Naruto pulled a battered packet of instant ramen out of one pocket and a handful of bedraggled dandelions out of the other.
Sakura smiled so widely that her face hurt. “Those are wonderful!”
Naruto flushed. “I like ramen. And old man Ichiraku says that girls like flowers.”
Sakura nodded as she carefully accepted her gifts. The dandelions’ stems were immediately set into the glass of water at her bedside.
“He’s right. I love them. And I love the ramen too.”
Naruto beamed. His little chest puffed out with pride.
Sakura cast her mind around for anything in her room that Naruto might find entertaining.
“Ne, Naruto, have you ever played Go Fish?”
Naruto came by nearly every day after school. But the more often Naruto visited, the less often Kakashi popped in to check that she was still alive. No matter how happy Naruto, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji, Sakura began to worry about Kakashi.
Is he on a mission? Or is he afraid to see Yondaime’s son?
He’s fine.
But he gets so lonely.
He got along before he met you. I’m sure Kakashi is getting along just fine now.
Stupid, sick body!
Rokudaime sighed. Why don’t we think about anything else?
Stupid grown ups!
You do know that I’m still here right?
Hmph.
We should work on our sealing. Wouldn’t you like to work on our sealing?
You’re just trying to distract me.
Is it working?
…Yes.
Sakura fished her altered textbook, her sealing notebooks, and her pencil out from under her bed.
When Sakura had first opened up the sealing textbook, she had been horrified. There were just chapters and chapters of tables filled with symbols and their reverse or half selves and the elements sympathetic to them at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels and their meanings and chapters and chapters of what happened when this symbol was combined with that symbol in this very specific way. If the symbols were combined in some other way, even if the differences were so tiny that Sakura barely noticed them, or with additional symbols between, around, or near them then something entirely different happened. Or nothing happened at all. Or you died.
The book was sort of vague on that part.
It’ll take forever! Sakura had wailed. I don’t even understand any of this! And the writing is tiny!
Relax. You can do this. Everything’s going to be fine.
It was impossible to disbelieve Inner Sakura when she used that terribly soothing tone of voice.
So Sakura and Rokudaime studied the syllabaries every day, copying their lines and curves and memorizing their meanings. Even with help, it was hard. It was like learning a new language.
Just as Sakura had once learned to read and write by memorizing the syllabaries of her language, Sakura started to learn sealing by practicing and memorizing the lines and squiggles that made up the most basic sealing “syllabaries.”
Frankly, Sakura could see why it was such an unpopular ninja art.
Bunny agreed with her.
Rokudaime made her practice it everyday in lieu of taijutsu. She was mean like that.