Beyond the Boundary | Haruno Sakura | DISCONTINUED

SIX

Kushina was stunning. Her bright red hair with an attitude to match–Sakura could immediately see where Naruto got his personality. The woman was scary, too. Sakura smiled sheepishly as she was ratted out for being late—then introduced herself kindly.

"So, Sakura-chan, what about your mission had you gone for so long?" Minato asked as he cut into the perfectly cooked steak on his plate. Kushina sent him a withering glare, warning him not to dig too deep. Everyone at the table had their eyes on the pink haired kunoichi waiting for the answer with curious anticipation.

Sakura cast her eyes down to her plate, sighing lightly. "I'm afraid the details are classified. But, I can tell you that I've been held...prisoner for a majority of my time away."

Kushina's eyes softened. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan...it must have been hard." The woman sympathized. A practiced smile pulled the corners of her lips as she waved a hand in the air dismissively. "Thank you, Kushina-san. I've been through worse."
Much worse.

This time it was Obito who spoke. "How bad is worse? Like, tortured and stuff? Do you have scars?! Can we—OOF!" The boy clutched his head and fell to the floor without much warning. Sakura couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Kushina was standing above him with a ladle in hand, hair floating around her head like a frightening crown.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!" Obito cried. "You don't just ask people if they have scars Obito-kun! It's rude!" The woman reprimanded. "Now apologize to Sakura-chan."

Rin giggled behind her hand, amused by the entire scene. "Agh! Fine! I'm sorry Sakura-sensei. I didn't mean to offend you..." the boy trailed reluctantly. Any other time, he wouldn't hesitate to apologize but whenever Kushina forced him he felt this need to rebel in some way.

The woman nodded, accepting the apology with a small smile. "It's alright Obito. I know you didn't mean anything harmful." She said. The boy grinned widely before settling back in his seat. "Anyways, I do have some scars. Not so sure they have interesting stories, ha." Sakura continued to tell them the stories behind a few of her scars—like the one where she burned her hand on the stove or a kunai from the midst of battle. She never delved in about her scars from the war, though.

It was still a very touchy subject for her. Anything concerning her past was a touchy subject. Sakura liked to think that what was in the past stayed there and that perhaps this was the time for her to remake herself—more than twenty years in the past, though.

Still, she couldn't brush off the fact that she was brought back by a god of some kind. She had a mission.

"Thank you for the meal, Kushina-san. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you Minato-san for having me over." She said. The red haired woman smiled kindly, crushing the pink haired woman in a hug. Sakura wheezed, unaccustomed to Kushina's brute strength. Kakashi left already, saying he had training to do. In truth, Sakura suspected he had something dark on his mind. She just hoped he would dive too far into dark thoughts...

So as she walked home in the dark, skin prickling from the cool nighttime breeze, she wondered what exactly she could do to 'fix' the past. Was such a thing even possible? If she could come back to life, it had to be. But was it...necessary? Sakura believed the past should stay the past—that every event happened because it was meant to.

But there was a reason—however unimaginably crazy it was. A sigh passed her lips as she opened the door to Michi's home and slipped off her shoes. "I'm home!" She called out softly. She got a response back, from the kitchen area.

Sakura informed her that she would be retiring to her room for the night, and that she had eaten dinner already. The next morning was training Rin in the medical field and then the whole team, she needed all the rest she could get.

Sorry, this is more of a filler chapter! I'm currently in the process of moving.