Kakasaku : War of the Zetsu

Chapter Seven: Another Corner

Chapter Seven: Another Corner

Walking through the gates, Sakura's eyes immediately went to the Hokage's tower. They did after every mission, but this one.

This was a moment she wanted for herself to quietly analyze how different it felt. She couldn't do that, just sit and sigh the night air if she woke the pair sleeping on the job.

No matter how eager she was to greet them, or how much trouble they might get into with someone else walking through the gates, Sakura could not bring herself to disrupt the thoughts and wavering emotions so deep with in looking at the water tower.

The broad streets in front of her were quiet and peaceful. Not even the early risers had opened their eyes just yet. Only the Anbu's watchful gaze would be aware of her presence, even so they would not greet her. The rigorously trained specialists would stay in their hidden perches, observing her.

There was also no chance in hell Ino would be awake, so going to her apartment with the likely chance of the blonde being naked in Sakura's bed with her ex teammate was not worth risking.

The growl of her stomach made her regret not stopping at the tea house as she stood, deciding what action to take. If she went to the hospital, she'd have to work. No matter where she thought of or intention flitted to, Sakura's eyes were ever drawn back to the Hokage's tower.

It was a different feeling than the excitement and dread she felt whenever she had to report to Lady Tsunade. Even when Sakura was successful with a mission, she still felt nervous handing in her report. Every single time, no matter how old she was or close, she and her Master had become a checklist of questions entered.

Had she done everything? Was there some secret underlying task that she was supposed to complete? Could she have done more, or should she have done less? The knot in her stomach would grow until she would hear the mature, calming voice of her Master say. "Well done, Sakura."

If she went now, followed the auto-stepped path her feet were trying to travel, the voice she would hear would be different. They eyes she would see would not be the ever watchful honey comb eyes of her mentor, teacher and friend, but the unreadable eyes of her ex Sensei.

The galaxy dark gaze that calmed her as much as they haunted the darkest and possibly most forbidden corner of her mind. The stare that she wanted to confess everything to, as if it could see through her any way. The eyes she didn't even know she was trying to pull in her direction every day.

The once terrifying singular obsidian orb mismatched with a red Sharingan that had become the warmest sight to her in all the world without her ever knowing how it happened.

Not ready to deal with any of the eventualities that crossed her mind, least of all that, Sakura sat on a park bench instead. Watching the place, taking in the feeling of being home. A feeling very short-lived as one of the nurses on her morning run, instantly recognized Sakura pulling her from her thoughts and desired solitude.

Before Sakura could blink, she was going through the disorganized halls of the hospital, trying not cringe while the staff insisted that she looked over every package sent from abroad for her new laboratory.

Many hours later, without food or rest, the exhausted nin pulled her feet one after the other to her apartment. The only thing on Sakura's mind, the heavenly cloud of her bed, where she could finally sleep.

Even if Ino and Sai had been using her apartment as a secret love shack the night before, it was well past noon. They should both be up and gone. It was never really something they'd specifically agreed to, but hearing that the couple had more or less turned Sakura's apartment into a hotel on the nights that the two were in town together didn't make her put a stop to it.

Turning the knob, that oversight was forefront in her mind with Ino in some dominatrix bodysuit being plowed by the ridiculously pale artist, that was once her teammate.

The pair of them going at it on her kitchen counter eliminated the possibility of a quick snack. Just as much as the ceiling hooks, various whips, ropes and other things made the idea of sleeping in her visibly stained sheets impossible.

Sakura was out the door before the enamored couple heard or noticed her between the shared groans of pleasure and slaps of flesh. The key she'd used to open the door to the apartment she'd so intentfully decorated, now taken over by the lovers, was under the mat, and the blushing pinkette was down the hall and out the door before she broke the building down.

All Sakura wanted in that moment was sleep.

Back in the park, searching for a different spot to just lay in the grass and destroy something in her mood was necessary if not best. The temperate, beautiful day full of laughing people and birds singing would have all been welcome and idealic with a proper night's sleep and meal.

At that moment, it was just an annoyance.

The tap of her shoe right at that moment of no longer caring and the coaxing whisper of rest pulling at her under the large tree she found herself nestled under, snapped her eyes up to find Shikamaru with a bag of dumplings and a Sho board.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty," he waived the bag of flaky, delicious smelling pastries in front of her face, already setting up the pieces. Shikamaru may have beaten her more times than she cared to count, but she'd also won more times than he ever wanted to admit.

Happy as she was to see him, and happier for the distraction to her crankiness, there was no forgetting their last conversation. Another corner that Sakura had yet to address.

Chapter Eight: Oh This Is Going To Be Painful