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Chapter Twelve: Eight Hours & Six Days

Dinner is a little awkward at first, but that's to be expected. Sasuke, of course, wakes up in the middle of it and comes flying over the table with a kunai drawn. Luckily, Kakashi is tall and lanky enough to quickly stand and grab the collar of his shirt. He swings Sasuke over the food and settles him onto the floor mat next to him. The Uchiha sits there for a moment, looking completely confused. Everyone continues eating as he gathers himself.

"Sensei," Sasuke speaks up, turning his head towards Kakashi, "What in the world is going on?" Their sensei doesn't get a chance to reply as Naruto bombards him with words after hurriedly swallowing his current bite. Sakura suspects that Tsunami had something to do with Naruto's change in table manners.

"We're having dinner, teme. After Haku fake-deathed you with senbon, Gatō showed up with a bunch of thugs saying that he wasn't going to pay Zabuza. Then Sakura almost drowned them all before Haku and Zabuza killed them," he pauses for a quick breath, "Did you know Sakura's a sensor?" The table is stunned into silence after Naruto's rant, Sakura excluded. Truthfully, she hadn't really known that she was a sensor. Nor does she think it a particularly reputable skill. Surely other shinobi had developed it? It must have been normal to track the chakra signatures of fellow Konoha nin. Sakura has never known anything else, and all of the shinobi around her have never had trouble finding her or anybody else.

"Sakura's a sensor?" Sasuke repeats, directing his gaze to Sakura along with everyone else. Sakura shifts uncomfortably, toying with her chopsticks. She shrugs.

"I guess? I thought everyone used their chakra to locate people." Now that she's said it out loud, it does seem kind of stupid. When she thinks about it a bit more, she finds that her fine chakra control is at the root of her ability. An amount of control that she knows not everyone has. When she looks around, every shinobi at the table is looking at her with warring expressions of awe and concern. Even Sasuke, who she initially assumed would be unhappy that she possessed a seemingly rare skill. Sakura would have to learn to stop assuming things about the last Uchiha. He had changed sometime during the mission, and it was screwing up her original assessment of the genin.

"No, pinky," Zabuza says dryly, "If every shinobi was a sensor then there would be a lot more conflict." Sakura blinks at the response, reaching up and rubbing the back of her neck a bit. A habit she had picked up from Naruto, sometime during their endless D rank missions.

"Oh." Sakura says with a lack of anything any better to say. Kakashi drags his hand down his face at her response, pinching the bridge of his nose. She feels a little bad, but she's a civilian-born genin. How in the world was she supposed to know? Kakashi reaches over and pats her shoulder.

"We're going to have a nice long discussion on abilities when we get back to the village. Okay Sakura?" Her sensei tells her, nothing short of an order. Sakura nods her head guiltily, looking down as she sticks a sushi roll into her mouth. She chews mulishly, refusing to let the tears that prick her eyes fall. She doesn't exactly know why she's so emotional, but the thought of disappointing her sensei suddenly fills her with shame. She wishes this conversation hadn't happened at the dinner table. Seeming to sense her minor distress, Kakashi turns back to Zabuza and Haku, taking charge of the conversation.

"The town has agreed to keep your survival a secret," Kakashi reiterates, "So what exactly is this rebellion that Haku spoke of earlier?" Sakura knows she should pay attention, but despite her best efforts she still gets lost in her thoughts. She can always review the memories later of course, but it's impolite to look inattentive. Unfortunately, the words go in one ear and right out the other, so Sakura gives up in the end. She'll just have to rejoin the conversation later. Her mind wanders as she thinks about what he happened recently.