Sakura Shippuden (#2 Sakura Trilogy)

Sakura Shippuden: [Chapter 5]

Ever since the incident in which Kizashi and Mebuki showed just how much they valued her, Sakura actually made an effort to interact with them more. If they were willing to fight others for her, that meant something, right?

Sakura stared absentmindedly at her reflection in her mug, watching the honey-coloured tea swirl around. Beside her were textbooks the size of mountains that Tsunade had assigned her now that she could actually train. Sakura's body was very sore; in fact, she learned the hard way that human were not meant to lift boulders ten times larger than them. But now, she was seated at the kitchen table, reading and taking in all the information with Mebuki sitting across from her, casually reading a magazine. The two sat in a companionable silence.

Out of uniform, Mebuki typically wore a long white dress with the Haruno clan symbol on both the front and back. However, with the colder seasons still lingering, she instead chose a thick cable knit sweater and leggings inside the house. Sakura blinked, then glanced up without moving her head. Mebuki had laser-point focus on the article she was reading, the black glasses slipping off the edge of her nose. After a minute, the blonde woman sighed and sat back, taking hold of her own mug and sipping the tea contently. Sensing Sakura's eyes on her, she raised a brow, again prompting Sakura to blink and realize she had been staring.

Conversation was neither of their fortes, but especially for Sakura. And so, Mebuki decided to nonchalantly ask how Naruto was, for she had remembered Sakura telling her that he was going to send her letters and whatnot.

However, Sakura surprised her by responding. "A part of my probation was having no outside contacts. Even with it ending, there is no way for him to know unless he was informed by another. A strange feeling overtakes me when I think of not receiving letters from Ramen-boy."

Mebuki blinked before bringing a hand to her chin. "Hm. It sounds like you may miss Naruto, Sakura." After watching Sakura slowly nod to herself, Mebuki stood. "I'm going to get dinner started. When Kizashi comes back, tell him to help me."

Mebuki moved into the kitchen, separated from the dining area by a thin wall. She leaned back onto the wall, out of Sakura's sight, put a hand to her chest, and smiled gently to herself. Progress.

✿ ✿ ✿

Sakura dodged another boulder, silently berating herself for nearly getting caught by it. Her eyes turned towards Tsunade, who stared impatiently. "You're going to have to use it eventually, Sakura," the Hokage told her. Sakura tensed, feeling the ground shake. Her eyes zeroed in on Tsunade, but she hadn't moved. Then she remembered the books she had read on the Sannin: Tsunade Senju, one of the remaining of the Senju clan, is not only a medic-nin, but because of her complete chakra control, a force to be reckoned with in the battlefield.

Sakura blinked, then jumped, propelling herself with chakra, just as the ground crumbled to pieces. Her perfect chakra control allows her to break the ground without even stomping or punching. She grunted, climbing onto the first piece that rose, then used the other debris as a staircase, leading herself back down to the ground. Sakura launched into a close-range attack, kunai in hand, and launched it at Tsunade. However, instead of dodging the kunai, Tsunade allowed the weapon to lodge itself into her arm.

Sakura stared at the blood running down her arm, frozen. The man from the Tazuna mission that touched her and threatened to kill her and her team and the one that she killed with one of the worst ways possible but that doesn't erase the pain or the terrible memories—! Sakura closed her eyes, took a deep breath, aware of her rapidly-beating heart, then exhaled. She opened her eyes to see a healed Tsunade with a proud smile.

The blonde approached, then patted Sakura on her head. "I know how hard it can be fighting in the battlefield with trauma, Sakura. And I wish I could have handled it like you did just now. I'm proud of you." Sakura looked up to see honesty in Tsunade's golden eyes, then nodded. The moment was broken as she reverted back to her hard-ass mentality, and stepped back. "Run some laps around the village and then you're done for today. When you get home, work on meditating. Get some rest afterwards... and don't show up tomorrow. No one likes working on their birthday."

Sakura straightened. "Hai." She watched Tsunade jump onto the top of a tree before disappearing from her sight, then began to work on her laps.

✿ ✿ ✿

After she was done with her laps, Sakura entered the apartment only to find it empty with only the kitchen light on. She entered cautiously, because there was always some sort of thing going on in the Haruno residence. With a kunai in her hand, she crept around the corner, then eased up when she saw a note on the counter. Sakura returned her kunai back to its holster and unfolded the letter, then read it to herself:

Sakura—
    Both Kizashi and I will be out on a mission until the end of the week, unfortunately. We'll celebrate when we get back — in the mean time, in an envelope in the freezer is enough money for a few days worth of food. Take care.

—Mebuki

Sakura folded the letter back up and then headed over to the freezer before she felt a sharp prick in the side of neck. She jerked her head quickly to catch sight of her attacker, but all she saw were two dark eyes behind a mask of bleached bone. Sakura made a weak attempt at struggling, fought the heavy weight on her eyelids, but she succumbed to the darkness soon enough.

[A/N]: Sakura's probation has finally been lifted, and she has full access to her chakra now! Also, she's been kidnapped by an unknown person, so that's great too.