Naruto shortfic.
Sakura. I, um, just wanted to quickly express my appreciation for Kishimoto.
Sakura dreams of wandering the forest at the edge of Konoha, kunai in hand, hunting snakes.
For two and a half years she dreams this dream. Of course she knows what it means. It means she's obsessed. She needs to find another hobby, maybe take up flower arranging, catch a movie now and then.
She can't help it. Being Tsunade's apprentice is like being trapped in a strange but breathtaking world where nothing matters but her work. She pushes herself harder, harder, soaks up knowledge, takes a fierce pride in the way she can eviscerate a man from twelve paces and heal him again before he knows what's happened. Her quest for power is single-minded.
This is how Sasuke feels, she thinks, it's so easy to lose yourself in this, pretend that knowledge and power are all that matters, be so driven by your goals that you force yourself ignore the people around you and pretend they're not real.
Tsunade allows her- or forces her into- one free afternoon a week. She visits Lee every Tuesday and leaves feeling more human. It helps quell her fear that she is becoming something she hates.
Often she thinks about Naruto. He must have changed by now. He must be a little like her; working, losing himself in a blur of people and places and travel, with a deceptively easy-looking carelessness she has grown to admire somewhat. He, too, is thinking of Sasuke. But how much more must it hurt to be the one who might have saved him after all? The pressure must hurt.
Sakura dreams of entering, hand in hand with Naruto, into that dark castle where Sasuke lies in a glass coffin filled with snakes.
Oh, you poor boy, she thinks. When I find you I'll beat some sense into you once and for all.
Sakura dreams of wandering the forest at the edge of Konoha, kunai in hand, hunting snakes.
For two and a half years she dreams this dream. Of course she knows what it means. It means she's obsessed. She needs to find another hobby, maybe take up flower arranging, catch a movie now and then.
She can't help it. Being Tsunade's apprentice is like being trapped in a strange but breathtaking world where nothing matters but her work. She pushes herself harder, harder, soaks up knowledge, takes a fierce pride in the way she can eviscerate a man from twelve paces and heal him again before he knows what's happened. Her quest for power is single-minded.
This is how Sasuke feels, she thinks, it's so easy to lose yourself in this, pretend that knowledge and power are all that matters, be so driven by your goals that you force yourself ignore the people around you and pretend they're not real.
Tsunade allows her- or forces her into- one free afternoon a week. She visits Lee every Tuesday and leaves feeling more human. It helps quell her fear that she is becoming something she hates.
Often she thinks about Naruto. He must have changed by now. He must be a little like her; working, losing himself in a blur of people and places and travel, with a deceptively easy-looking carelessness she has grown to admire somewhat. He, too, is thinking of Sasuke. But how much more must it hurt to be the one who might have saved him after all? The pressure must hurt.
Sakura dreams of entering, hand in hand with Naruto, into that dark castle where Sasuke lies in a glass coffin filled with snakes.
Oh, you poor boy, she thinks. When I find you I'll beat some sense into you once and for all.