Nature's Mess

Chapter 2

It was Kazuki who found it first.

Sakura had been slouching over her work table, scrolling through her display and reading over some test results, when Kazuki entered the lab.

"Hey Sakura-chan, kill the music, will you?" Kazuki asked as he walked in. Sakura was so focused that she didn't heard. Kazuki sighed before walking to the radio and turning it down.

"Hey!" Sakura shot up, glaring at her best friend. "I was listening to that!" She swiveled her chair around, releasing nervous energy as she did. It was the only thing that helped to still her mind, at least sometimes, when she was interrupted mid-thought. Sakura clenched her eyes shut, breathed in, and then out, centering herself with the steady hum of the radio.

"What gives?" she finally asked, opening her eyes and taking in the man in front of her. He was dressed down, in dark formal pants and a blue Shirt, so obviously it wasn't an official visit.

Kazuki raised an eyebrow at his friend, and Sakura raised one right back at him, and then finally she grinned, getting up and hugging the tall man. "It's been a while," she said as she stepped back.

"Since after you nearly died, you mean?" Kazuki asked dryly, rhetorically. "It wasn't even that long ago. And you still haven't groveled enough for that, Sakura-chan. I mean, come on, who even does that?"

Toni mock-pouted at him. "I'll get a new poison set with antidot!" She turned around, pulling her file towards her as she went. "I mean, it's only been two weeks since I got a back on the rooster. Cut me some slack, Pumpkin!"

She barely registered the gasp that Kazuki let out, already hopping onto a train of thought that swiftly began to carry her away. But she couldn't miss a large hand settling onto her shoulder, gripping her, and pulling her away from her work once again.

Sakura yelped as the back of her t-shirt was pulled down, and then, before she could say or do anything, Kazuki exclaimed, "You have a soulmark, Sakura-chan. A soulmark!"

"What!" She was off, running towards the bathroom and turning on the lights as she twisted around, trying desperately to see the words written there.

But she couldn't.

They were at the nape of her neck and she could only see a hint of the black print—holy shit it was finally happening, she'd waited so long, and now she was going to meet somebody who would accept every part of her, damaged goods and all, brains and all, faults and all, and she didn't care that that may be naïve of her. She didn't care, and the mark was out of sight, and she wanted to see, and luck of all luck she didn't have a second mirror. "Kazu, can you tell—"

"I've got you, Sakura-chan—calm down, geez," Kazuki said gently, attempting to settle her as he strode swiftly towards her. Kazuki had been privy to every thought Sakura had had about soulmarks over the years. The times she'd laughed at the idea, the times she'd tried to figure out how they worked, the times that she'd thrown herself into a deep, dark hole at the thought that she'd be markless and bondless forever, and Kazuki and Tsunade had been her only ways out.

He knew what this meant to Sakura. He wouldn't have lied to her about it. Never about something like this. Actually, never, period. End of story. Sakura could trust Kazuki with her life and more.

Kazuki would never lie to her.

Even though he had a soulmark, heralding a rendezvous a few months down the road that he planned to be there for, he'd always be her Kazuki, too. They may not have ever been a thing, but their connection… it was deeper than what many of the soulmates she met had.

She stilled, waiting for him to come over. And then, finally, the man set his warm fingers against her neck and shoulders, and tugged the shirt down and—

"Holy shit."

Sakura had never heard anything like what she was now hearing in Kazuki's tone. It was equal parts reverent, shocked, and disbelieving.

All as he looked at her soulmark.

Hers.

Wow.

It couldn't be that bad, right? All a soulmark could be was a string of numbers and words. How could that have garnered a response like that?

"Let me see!" Sakura demanded, thrilled but also terrified—and the only reason she let that show was because it was Kazuki here with her.

But… was she ready? Was she ready to have someone so intrinsically tied to her life?

Yes.

It scared her, but yes. She'd always dreamed of being given the opportunity at a connection such as this.

Kazuki took the small mirror and then held it up for his friend to see.

The only thoughts that rushed through her mind as she stared, and stared, and stared at the Symbol.

Sakura couldn't gather a single coherent thought anymore. She simply continued to stare, and stare, and then her hands began to shake at her sides. She gripped the fabric of her Labcoat in both hands, clenching with her fingers as her heart pounded in her ears.

Kazuki pulled the Mirror away, and that seemed to kick start her brain—at least somewhat.

"Is that—?" she asked, incapable of completing her sentence. She just… couldn't find the words.

And that was scary. She always had the right words.

"Yeah," Kazuki replied, knowing exactly what she meant. "Yeah, that's real, Sakura." He sounded just as shaken as she did.

That was scary, too. Kazuki was always calm. Well. Calmer.

"What now?" Sakura asked again, her voice cracking on the last word. She caught her own eyes in the mirror, and she wasn't quite sure what they showed. She didn't even know what she was feeling on the inside, never mind being able to read the physical manifestation of those feelings.

"I don't know, Sakura-chan. I don't know."

And he didn't. But neither did Sakura.

She was barely aware of her best friend leaving the bathroom, let alone the lab entirely, as she descended further into her thoughts, pondering what exactly was going on.

A soulmark. Finally.

But it belonged to two of the most important people in her life.

What was she going to do?