Sakura is warm. She shouldn't be, considering she collapsed on a beach the last time she was conscious. And just in shorts and a sports bra at that. She moves to sit up, gritting her teeth as her body immediately begins screaming at her. When she opens her eyes from scrunching them tightly, black spots dot her vision. That doesn't prevent her from seeing Kakashi of course. But she kind of wishes that it would. Despite three-fourths of his face being covered, her sensei still manages to look both concerned and disappointed. A quick check on her sensory net and Sakura is able to quickly note that the boys are once again in the forest. And from their chakra fluctuations, they are still trying to figure out the tree walking exercise. Kakashi clears his throat and Sakura's eyes snap back open. She rubs the back of her neck sheepishly, absently noting the bandages wrapped around her hands.
"Did you know that would happen?" Kakashi questions her, pushing himself off of the wall he had been leaning on and walking over to her. Sakura winces slightly. Now that she knows her sensei, it seems like she can never lie to him. Looking back, she's surprised that she was able to keep up her facade for her introduction. Sakura doesn't prolong her reply.
"It... was a possibility," Sakura admits. She may not have clearly recognized it with all the hurt that clouded her mind when she started the rites, but she had known. Not upfront, but she had technically known. Kakashi sighs at her answer, crossing his arms as he cocks his hip out. As team leader, her sensei has every right to punish her for risking the mission. When shinobi accept missions they are tools for the duration of them. And for Sakura, who descends from a long-faded clan that no one remembers. For Sakura, who is a civilian-born in the eyes of the village--- For Sakura, her role is to be the cannon fodder between danger and her teammates. Sasuke is the last of the Uchiha, and Naruto, he is the last known Uzamaki in Konoha. Should the two be exposed to lethal force, Sakura is supposed to stand between them and the blade. Sakura has known this since the beginning. Has known what to expect. Has observed the difference in the way most of the Academy instructors treated Clan kids when compared to the civilian-born. But as always, Kakashi defies her expectations. Instead, he ruffles her head, obscuring her vision.
"You finished, didn't you?" Kakashi asserts, the question requiring less of an answer and more of a confirmation. When she can see again, she notices how her sensei's eye lingers on her bandages. The lichtenberg-figuren that creep out from beneath the bandages. Sakura nods, not only to assuage his worries.
"Yeah. When it comes to the islands, usually only a blessed Haruno can complete the rites. I'm surprised She accepted me to be completely honest. But it won't happen again," Sakura cements the fact in her sensei's mind. Not as a soothing lie, but more as an unfortunate truth. Harunos that are marked with lichtenberg-figuren cannot lead the rites. It means that they have led the funeral too early, that the ocean was forced to speak to them too soon. Sakura suspects that the sheer amount of figuren decorating her skin is evidence of that. Her grandmother had been marked during the second-ever islander mass burial, just shy of eighteen. Sakura was barely past twelve now. She had undergone no training, had received no blessing. Of course, there weren't any Harunos left. But to the ocean, children are not meant to burn corpses and beg for the dead's forgiveness. They are meant to be protected. Sakura's lichtenberg-figuren are the sea's eternal reminder that whoever was meant to protect her failed. But, Sakura thinks quietly, her protectors had been felled long ago. Sakura blinks as Kakashi pokes her forehead, face less than a foot away from her own.
"Good. Don't risk yourself again." It is an order and a request rolled into one. But Sakura can't promise it, so she simply nods. If she gives her word and breaks it, she'll be angry with herself. So she doesn't say anything. Kakashi nods back at her, poking her forehead one more time before leaning back. Sakura inhales and exhales a slow, deep breath. Her sensei may not be the Village, but in the end, when they are back within the walls of Konohagakure, Kakashi does not decide her fate. The people do. The people, and the Hokage. A memory flashes behind her eyelids. It is a depiction of two figures sitting alone on Hokage Mountain. She knows them both and just as distantly. Except the blonde one, now. This mission seems to have changed a lot of things.
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Fanfiction"A hundred stones sink beneath the waves, imperfect and uneven kanji chipped into them by an unpracticed hand. The owners only recently buried as ash and dust beneath coarse dirt and sand. And Sakura, the one behind it all." A Different Wave: Book O...
