Sacrifice and Surrender

19: Trouble

Yori Shimura brought Sakura to the current most expensive and prestigious establishment in the village for their lunch. They sat in a private area of the tea garden and made small talk that Sakura found awkward and pointless. Tobirama was right that politics wasn't her strong suit, she didn't want to be diplomatic and waste time with fancy words talking around the issues. After talking about the weather in the Land of Fire for two minutes, Sakura had enough.

"Forgive me, Lord Shimura. The less time I'm away from the hospital, the less time I have to save lives and train new medics, so can we cut the pointless talk about the weather and discuss what you really want?"

Yori took a drink of his wine, staring at her over the cup. She felt uncomfortable under his obvious scrutiny.

"You're not a good diplomat," he observed.

She gave a wry smile.

"I deal with life and death in my hands every day, Lord Yori. I don't have time to play politics with lives at stake. But don't make the mistake thinking that I can't be everything I need to be when the time comes."

"There are some who might call your attitude refreshing," he replied after a moment. "I do not."

Sakura wasn't surprised. "If you have something to say to me, I suggest you make your point."

His eyes narrowed. "Perhaps you think that you are above decorum and consequences because the Hokage seems to think you're worth something, and Lord Madara deigns to give you attention."

Sakura bristled at the implication in his voice, she narrowed her eyes.

"But that does not excuse you from the consequences of purposefully injuring one of my clan."

"I'm not sure what you're accusing me of," Sakura said after a moment. If he wanted to see her squirm, he was going to have to try harder. "It was an arm wrestle."

Yori's neck turned red. "You broke his arm."

"He overestimated his strength and underestimated mine," Sakura said. "Accidents can happen when insults are thrown out in ignorance."

Yori was silent for a moment.

"Perhaps I was mistaken about your skills in diplomacy," he said with a humourless smirk. "Clearly you have no problem twisting your words to suit your purposes."

She gave him a venomous smile. "I'm a shinobi."

"Indeed."

Sakura let out a small sigh. "Why don't we be straight with one another. You don't like me," she said pointedly. "And I don't like you. You don't respect my work and consider medics as lesser shinobi."

Yori looked agitated, but Sakura continued.

"I broke Biako's arm because, like you, he shared sentiments that were insulting to me."

"You openly admit you broke his arm?" Yori asked, almost surprised.

"Yes. There is no one else in this world that can say with as much certainty, that I broke his arm in an exact fashion that would cause pain yet minimal damage and would be easily repaired with no lasting problems."

Sakura sipped her wine.

"So if you have a problem that I broke his arm, then have one. But if you have an issue with my control or skill, you will find yourself in a losing battle."

"Youth makes you feel as if there is nothing that can touch you," Yori said. "You have more to lose than you know."

Sakura laughed and he looked at her like he didn't understand her at all. Sakura knew that he didn't, he really had no idea who she was.