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(teamwork) more of the "Sakura's first time" prequel
Not sure the scene is finished this time but i'm stuck again, so here it is. The end line sucks mightily though, so if you could offer suggestions... *siiigh*
everything from that fic so far:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/reiyel/5036.html
The OCs, and all you need to know about them:
Yumeko: Sakura's cousin. (a redhead, imperious, somewhat sarcastic, though not mean. She likes makeup and tends to attract a clique)
Kimi: (girl) Yumeko's best friend. (blonde, very sweet and enthusiastic, a bit naïve and chatty)
Ken: (boy) Dirty blond, works out to attract the ladies. Can be amusing; very competitive. Thinks he's smooth. Gives nicknames.
Junta: (boy) Smooth black hair, black eyes, very tall and thin. Wears glasses. Bit of a dork.
Hiroshi: (boy) Messy black hair, brown eyes. Smiles a lot, generally helpful, secretly mischievous.
She ended up carrying the basket, because Yumeko found it too heavy. It wasn't, not really, but the way her cousin had grinned and told her that she couldn't be expected to be as strong as Sakura had made her forget to protest. She'd been played, of course. In the absence of a male to charm into doing the heavy lifting and other tiring stuff, Yumeko was all disposed to rely on her. Sakura didn't really mind, though. It amused her more than anything else; besides she was going to eat a little more than her share of the food anyway.
The river was about twenty minutes away from the house, nestled in between trees and a bush-covered bump in the ground masquerading as a hill. The river wasn't that large, or that fast, which made it just perfect for swimming. Some spots looked deep and dark enough that she couldn't see the bottom, which made her squint her eyes and wonder if anyone was ambushed there -- but then she didn't see why anyone would bother. There was always a slight risk that she would be targeted to put pressure on her teacher or teammates, but rare were the people who even knew where she had gone, and there was a limit to paranoia.
Yumeko's best friend Kimi was already there on the grass, along with the scrawny one, what was his name -- oh, right, Junta. Yumeko immediately started teasing them about being alone together, with lots of waggling eyebrows and more dirty language than Sakura had been aware her elegant cousin possessed. Sakura hung back -- she didn't know them enough to join in on the teasing, and beside they hadn't looked that close to her; maybe Yumeko was just poking fun at them because she knew how unlikely a blooming relationship between them was.
Junta helped her spread the tablecloth on the ground as Kimi and Yumeko pretended to argue, giving her a little wincing smile. She grinned, and was about to reassure him that she didn't intend to grill him when she heard people sprinting toward them through the grass. She had her hand on the knife they'd brought to cut the dry sausage in a second.
Ken and Hiroshi burst into the clearing, out of breath, only coming to a stumbling stop when they were almost on top of the girls. Ken wasn't out of breath enough not to smirk and lift his hands in a victorious pose. "I win again!"
Sakura slipped the knife back with the forks and things, glad that their grand entrance had prevented Junta from noticing her gesture, and even gladder that she hadn't gone for the senbon she'd slipped in her bun. She didn't need Yumeko nagging her about cheating her way out of the no weapons clause their mothers had imposed for the outing.
"Yo, pink-ninja-babe. Hitting it off with dork-boy -- I mean Junta, I see," Ken commented as he strolled toward them casually.
Yumeko snickered, twirling a lock of red hair mock-seductively. "And not ten minutes ago, he was seducing poor, sweet, innocent Kimi. You're turning into a regular ladies' man, Jun-chan."
"... Don't call me that," the boy grumbled as he got on his feet and turned away, embarrassed. Ken didn't lose any time crouching in the spot he'd just vacated, smirking at Sakura.
"You should be careful around him. He doesn't look like it, but he's one smooth guy with the ladies. Wouldn't want him to waylay you. If you need an escort..."
Sakura giggled. He was so blatant. "I'll be sure to ask," she assured him.
"If one day she needs you," Hiroshi added, finishing her thought.
Ken scowled at him and crossed his arms, lifting his chin proudly. "Hey, I'm strong."
Hiroshi glanced at Sakura, and they exchanged an amused look. She smiled at him, glad that he seemed to find the incongruity of the offer as funny as she did. She wasn't about to point it out to Ken, though. The blond was actually amusing with his perpetual boasting, and it wasn't as if anyone else took him seriously.
"Yes, yes, you're strong," Yumeko drawled as she poked him in the side. "And we should go swimming before we eat, so Hiro, stop trying to steal food. Honestly Sakura, you could protect it better than that."
Blinking, Sakura looked down at the basket, and noticed Hiroshi casually munching on a tomato. He blinked and grinned at her innocently, and she was so reminded of Naruto that she only managed to slap his head gentler than intended because he didn't look as manic or proud of himself as Naruto would have.
"Ow! What did I do?"
The innocent look, again. And a well-mastered one. "You -- you're a lot more devious than I gave you credit for," she stated, watching him through narrowed eyes. She tried to keep from smiling, but it wasn't easy.
"Um. I don't see what you mean?"
"He lies," Junta confirmed in a wise, vaguely regretful tone. He'd gotten rid of his t-shirt and tennis shoes at some point; his usually smooth black hair was all tangled. He was scrawny like someone who'd grown up too fast, Sakura noted, all pointy elbows and long bony legs. Hiroshi looked almost pudgy in comparison.
Ken rolled his eyes. "Stop being dorks. First one in the water--!"
Without more warning, Ken shot off toward the river. Junta took off after him, Hiroshi losing a few precious seconds to dance out of his pants and kick off his sandals. They crashed through a bush noisily, and landed in the water so heavily it splashed right over said bush.
"Boys," Kimi giggled, and turned to look at Sakura. "Did you bring a swimsuit?"
Sakura nodded, and then pulled her swimsuit and Yumeko's from the basket and followed them behind some bushes to get changed.
"Soooo?" Kimi asked, nudging her as she was taking off her top.
"So what?" she blinked back, puzzled.
"I saw you checking the guys out. So?"
Sakura blushed. She supposed she had been, at that. "Well, they were taking their shirts off just under my nose."
Yumeko rolled her eyes. "Bet you the guys she's used to are a lot more -- Sakura!! What happened to you?!"
Pausing in the process of pulling the swimsuit's shoulder straps up her arms, Sakura blinked over her shoulder at the two girls, puzzled. They were staring at her back with wide eyes. "What's the matter?"
"When did you get THAT?" Yumeko demanded, pointing at -- ah, right. She'd almost forgotten. Her first big on-mission injury.
"Uhm, a few months ago?"
"And no one warned us?! You'd think telling your family about grievous bodily harm..."
Sakura winced. Her parents had been so panicked, she was pretty sure it had slipped their mind. "Yume-chan, it's really nothing..."
"Nothing? It's so big and the edges are all -- torn and purplish -- how deep was it?" Kimi asked softly, a hand over her mouth to hide her grimace, light brown eyes soft in empathy.
Sakura pulled the straps up quickly and turned to face them, hiding the scar from view. "I'm fine, it was only ten days at the hospital and it didn't even nick anything important."
"A few inches to the side and it would have nicked your spine," Yumeko retorted, hands on her hips in a way that was reminiscent of both their mothers, an impression that her burningly red hair and outraged glower didn't help.
Sakura sighed. "Give me some credit, I can aim better than that."
"Aim? You mean, you chose to take that hit? And what was it anyway?"
"Classified," she snapped back, annoyed to be berated. She was proud of that scar, damn it! It was a scar that meant she could be more than dead weight and would do her duty no matter what, and wouldn't abandon her teammates, ever. "It was only a flesh wound. It happens sometimes. I'm fine now."
"Only a -- Sakura, are you listening to yourself?"
Why did Yumeko have to take on the same stern, disappointed, scared tones her mother used? It wasn't fair! "It was that or letting my teacher die, and if he'd died we would all have been picked off one by one and we'd have failed the mission, okay? Comparatively speaking, some time at the hospital is really nothing at all."
Yumeko looked horrified and a little guilty now. "... Sakura... I don't -- okay, maybe... if you knew what you were doing, I guess -- it's just that it's a shock to see something ugly like that on you..."
She hadn't know what she was doing, per se. It had been too frantic and hurried and blurred and confusing, and she'd reacted before thinking it through, and hoped for the best. But... It was the first time she'd been more than a nuisance, more than the backup no one really relies on. Usually it was always Kakashi-sensei who carried the mission, and when it wasn't him, it was Sasuke-kun or Naruto. And she stayed on the sidelines and watched, or got targeted purely to distract them, and she hated that. "I know it's ugly, but so what? It's here to stay, and that's it. It's better than the alternative."
Kimi winced, and Yumeko scowled, apparently offended by her tone. Sakura sighed.
"Listen... I like being pretty as much as the next girl, but some things are a little more important than being pretty. It's not as if I own any clothes that show it off anyway, so it doesn't matter much. And I think the boys are drowning each other."
Yumeko still looked torn between outrage and horror, and Kimi was openly shocked, watching her with wide pitying eyes. Sakura nudged the blonde gently, smiling apologetically. "Don't worry, alright? It just was an accident, I'm fine now. Let's go swim a little."
She herded Kimi toward the river, and Yumeko followed, still visibly unhappy.
Ken was dunking Hiroshi when they arrived; he whistled when he saw them, letting go of his victim to waddle closer to the steep bank. "Hey, babes. I was getting lonely."
Yumeko chuckled at him, though it sounded halfhearted to Sakura's ears, and took on a mock-sexy pose, showing off her curves. Ken leered and climbed on a rock to give out his hand chivalrously... and then Hiroshi burst out of the water, wrapped his arms around his neck and dunked him right back. Junta, who had been swimming a cautious distance away, started snickering at the same time as Sakura and Kimi burst into giggles.
The two boys emerged, and immediately started grappling in the waist-deep current. Yumeko rolled her eyes and started looking for a way down that wasn't too slippery. Sakura just hopped down, and thought about proposing her help to her cousin, but Yumeko studiously avoided her eyes as she stubbornly made her own way down the muddy rocks. With a sigh, Sakura went to help steady Kimi instead.
The water was surprisingly cold. She took her time getting wet, moving upstream cautiously when Hiroshi and Ken finally reached a cease-fire and started giving the still-mostly-dry girls speculative glances. She wasn't going in until she was good and ready.
She was still only thigh-deep when Kimi shrieked; she was across Ken's shoulders and being carried to the faster, deeper part of the river. Behind them, Yumeko was attempting to follow them by stepping on the stones that stuck out of the water. Her balance wasn't so good, though, especially since Hiroshi kept splashing her -- and now Junta was approaching her from behind. Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Hey!" she called out as she dived, suppressing a shiver. She was going to make things a bit more equal.
A half-hour later, the sides had shifted so much she wasn't sure who was on who's side at the moment and everyone had been dunked at least four times, her included. The ambushes died down, and she was able to find herself a deeper spot where she could swim against the current undisturbed.
Kimi seemed to have forgotten the earlier incident; she was cheering happily on Junta and Hiroshi as they swam against a particularly swift current. Yumeko, though, was sitting on a rock, legs swinging moodily in the water; Ken was apparently trying to make her talk, if she judged by his body language, the way he leaned toward her and nudged her leg gently when she shrugged. Sakura tried not to read their lips; she couldn't help but catch her name, though.
Ken turned around, seeing her watching, and signaled her closer with a wide gesture. "Oi, pink-ninja-babe!"
Sighing, she waddled toward the two of them. She had a feeling she knew what it was about, and she could have done without the interest his yelling had commandeered from the rest of the group.
"Yes?"
"What's up, guys?" Kimi asked, stepping toward them, and then hesitated as she saw Yumeko's sour and annoyed face. "Should I leave you alone?"
"No, it's fine," Sakura replied with a wince. "You were there, if this is about what I think it is."
Curious, Hiroshi swam closer; Junta found himself alone and with a shrug, he followed, more slowly.
"What's up?" Hiroshi asked, looking at all of them, brown eyes openly puzzled.
Ken just shrugged at him, then turned to look at Sakura. "You got battle scars?" he asked bluntly. Beside him, her cousin groaned and kicked his leg. "Oh, god, you're so subtle."
"Ken! How dare you ask her that?! You're so insensitive!" Kimi blurted out, shocked and offended on Sakura's behalf. "It's not a curiosity!"
"Hey, hey, I just wanted to know what Sexy-Red was brooding over! The way she says it, it sounds like her cousin was almost cut in half or something."
Sakura stared at Yumeko, who shrugged and looked at her feet sulkily. "What? It DOES."
"... battle scars?" Junta finally breathed out. He sounded awed. Sakura wondered if thinking that being a ninja -- with all that entailed -- was cool was better or worse than thinking it was awful.
Kimi shook her little fist at him, too. "Oh, you shush! The pain was probably awful and now she's going to have that scar forever, and you think it's neat! You're even more insensitive than Ken." She huffed, crossing her arms.
Sakura cringed, and patted her shoulder gently. "It's alright, Kimi-chan, it really doesn't bother me so much anymore. And, well, I understand -- all the boys I know are all 'look, my scars are cooler than yours!', so it's not as if I wasn't expecting that. Seriously, it's like the more gross and scary they are and the cooler guys think it is."
Kimi huffed again, still pouting. "Boys, I swear! You're heartless freaks, all of you," she added, turning to glare at the three boys in turn. Junta looked properly chastened, Ken looked like he was mentally going 'yeah, yeah, heard it all before' and Hiroshi was blinking, still confused.
"Hey, I didn't say anything!" he protested.
"I bet you think it's great, too!"
"What? No! I mean, okay, on a guy it makes it look like you're strong --"
"More like you're stupid," Yumeko interjected from her perch on the rock.
"--but not on a girl!"
Inner Sakura reared her head for the first time since she'd left Konoha. /WHAT?! What does it mean, girls aren't allowed to be badass now? Girls aren't allowed to protect?/ Sakura twitched, trying to keep a smooth expression. That offended her; she was chafing at always being treated like a precious doll to treat with care and wrap in cotton fluff while the big boys took care of serious matters, at being treated like she was too shallow to even consider holding some things more dear than unmarred beauty.
But they had never had to make that kind of choice, hopefully never would. And she liked being pretty and fashionable, enough to understand Kimi and Yumeko's attitudes, to understand that boys weren't expected to care as much. The meaning was different.
"Please, everyone! Stop it, all right?" she paused, troubled, when she ended up stared at by them all, but forced herself to continue. "It's just a scar, and sure, it's not pretty and I don't like showing it off, but -- I'm not traumatized over it, really I'm not." Softly, she touched Kimi's arm, gave her cousin a pleading look, trying to reassure them.
"So, can we see it?"
"Ken!!" Kimi snapped, as Yumeko kicked him again.
"Ow! But she said it didn't bother her--"
"Guys, it's alright!" Sakura repeated, stepping forward to stop Yumeko from hitting him. "I can let them see too this once, it's alright," she capitulated. "I just don't like wearing back-less tops, that's it. And even before that I didn't like them so much, so I'm not missing anything."
"Sakura --"
"It's alright," she repeated, more firmly. She turned around, letting the straps of her swimsuit slip down her arms, then, holding the front firmly against her chest, she twisted her arm behind her and pulled the back down.
There was silence for a few seconds, during which she couldn't help but feel vaguely nauseous as she waited for a verdict.
"...huh. Not as large as I thought," Ken muttered after a moment, though he didn't sound as dismissive as the words themselves would have needed.
She let go, hiding it again, and turned to face them. She was blushing now, feeling self-conscious. It wasn't her only scar -- her arms and legs sported fine white lines where she'd been cut -- but it was the only one that couldn't go unnoticed. She wondered if they had a better idea of what being a ninja was like now.
"... It doesn't still hurt, right?" Hiroshi asked, grimacing in sympathy.
"Oh, no, it's been healed for a while now. I can stretch just fine, the muscles..." had been re-grown and reattached, she almost said, but then decided that it was too much information, "weren't as damaged as it looks like they were, and we have very good healers. Really, it looks worse than it was."
She fidgeted. Junta was still gaping, a bit less fascinated now. She wondered if he was imagining the kind of trauma that had been needed to mark her like that. Ken was pretending to be cool, and Hiroshi was giving her a commiserating look. The girls of course were just as horrified and pitying as they'd been, which bothered her quite a bit.
"It's not the end of the world, you know," she snapped, putting her hands on her hips. "Way to make me feel like a freak."
They all flinched, more or less.
"Ah -- sorry, Sakura," Yumeko apologized softly. "It was a shock... I'm sorry."
"... I'm sorry I didn't think to ask Mom if you'd been warned," Sakura apologized in turn, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. Her cousin looked up and smiled at her.
"Whoa, Sexy-Red apologized."
"Oh, just shut up, Ken-ken," Yumeko snapped back, and shoved him in the water. She slipped off her rock, shivering as she ended up thigh-deep in the current. "Brr, water's cold. And isn't it time to eat by now?"
Well, the subtle subject changes must be a family trait, Sakura thought for herself, and quickly jumped on the occasion.
everything from that fic so far:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/reiyel/5036.html
The OCs, and all you need to know about them:
Yumeko: Sakura's cousin. (a redhead, imperious, somewhat sarcastic, though not mean. She likes makeup and tends to attract a clique)
Kimi: (girl) Yumeko's best friend. (blonde, very sweet and enthusiastic, a bit naïve and chatty)
Ken: (boy) Dirty blond, works out to attract the ladies. Can be amusing; very competitive. Thinks he's smooth. Gives nicknames.
Junta: (boy) Smooth black hair, black eyes, very tall and thin. Wears glasses. Bit of a dork.
Hiroshi: (boy) Messy black hair, brown eyes. Smiles a lot, generally helpful, secretly mischievous.
She ended up carrying the basket, because Yumeko found it too heavy. It wasn't, not really, but the way her cousin had grinned and told her that she couldn't be expected to be as strong as Sakura had made her forget to protest. She'd been played, of course. In the absence of a male to charm into doing the heavy lifting and other tiring stuff, Yumeko was all disposed to rely on her. Sakura didn't really mind, though. It amused her more than anything else; besides she was going to eat a little more than her share of the food anyway.
The river was about twenty minutes away from the house, nestled in between trees and a bush-covered bump in the ground masquerading as a hill. The river wasn't that large, or that fast, which made it just perfect for swimming. Some spots looked deep and dark enough that she couldn't see the bottom, which made her squint her eyes and wonder if anyone was ambushed there -- but then she didn't see why anyone would bother. There was always a slight risk that she would be targeted to put pressure on her teacher or teammates, but rare were the people who even knew where she had gone, and there was a limit to paranoia.
Yumeko's best friend Kimi was already there on the grass, along with the scrawny one, what was his name -- oh, right, Junta. Yumeko immediately started teasing them about being alone together, with lots of waggling eyebrows and more dirty language than Sakura had been aware her elegant cousin possessed. Sakura hung back -- she didn't know them enough to join in on the teasing, and beside they hadn't looked that close to her; maybe Yumeko was just poking fun at them because she knew how unlikely a blooming relationship between them was.
Junta helped her spread the tablecloth on the ground as Kimi and Yumeko pretended to argue, giving her a little wincing smile. She grinned, and was about to reassure him that she didn't intend to grill him when she heard people sprinting toward them through the grass. She had her hand on the knife they'd brought to cut the dry sausage in a second.
Ken and Hiroshi burst into the clearing, out of breath, only coming to a stumbling stop when they were almost on top of the girls. Ken wasn't out of breath enough not to smirk and lift his hands in a victorious pose. "I win again!"
Sakura slipped the knife back with the forks and things, glad that their grand entrance had prevented Junta from noticing her gesture, and even gladder that she hadn't gone for the senbon she'd slipped in her bun. She didn't need Yumeko nagging her about cheating her way out of the no weapons clause their mothers had imposed for the outing.
"Yo, pink-ninja-babe. Hitting it off with dork-boy -- I mean Junta, I see," Ken commented as he strolled toward them casually.
Yumeko snickered, twirling a lock of red hair mock-seductively. "And not ten minutes ago, he was seducing poor, sweet, innocent Kimi. You're turning into a regular ladies' man, Jun-chan."
"... Don't call me that," the boy grumbled as he got on his feet and turned away, embarrassed. Ken didn't lose any time crouching in the spot he'd just vacated, smirking at Sakura.
"You should be careful around him. He doesn't look like it, but he's one smooth guy with the ladies. Wouldn't want him to waylay you. If you need an escort..."
Sakura giggled. He was so blatant. "I'll be sure to ask," she assured him.
"If one day she needs you," Hiroshi added, finishing her thought.
Ken scowled at him and crossed his arms, lifting his chin proudly. "Hey, I'm strong."
Hiroshi glanced at Sakura, and they exchanged an amused look. She smiled at him, glad that he seemed to find the incongruity of the offer as funny as she did. She wasn't about to point it out to Ken, though. The blond was actually amusing with his perpetual boasting, and it wasn't as if anyone else took him seriously.
"Yes, yes, you're strong," Yumeko drawled as she poked him in the side. "And we should go swimming before we eat, so Hiro, stop trying to steal food. Honestly Sakura, you could protect it better than that."
Blinking, Sakura looked down at the basket, and noticed Hiroshi casually munching on a tomato. He blinked and grinned at her innocently, and she was so reminded of Naruto that she only managed to slap his head gentler than intended because he didn't look as manic or proud of himself as Naruto would have.
"Ow! What did I do?"
The innocent look, again. And a well-mastered one. "You -- you're a lot more devious than I gave you credit for," she stated, watching him through narrowed eyes. She tried to keep from smiling, but it wasn't easy.
"Um. I don't see what you mean?"
"He lies," Junta confirmed in a wise, vaguely regretful tone. He'd gotten rid of his t-shirt and tennis shoes at some point; his usually smooth black hair was all tangled. He was scrawny like someone who'd grown up too fast, Sakura noted, all pointy elbows and long bony legs. Hiroshi looked almost pudgy in comparison.
Ken rolled his eyes. "Stop being dorks. First one in the water--!"
Without more warning, Ken shot off toward the river. Junta took off after him, Hiroshi losing a few precious seconds to dance out of his pants and kick off his sandals. They crashed through a bush noisily, and landed in the water so heavily it splashed right over said bush.
"Boys," Kimi giggled, and turned to look at Sakura. "Did you bring a swimsuit?"
Sakura nodded, and then pulled her swimsuit and Yumeko's from the basket and followed them behind some bushes to get changed.
"Soooo?" Kimi asked, nudging her as she was taking off her top.
"So what?" she blinked back, puzzled.
"I saw you checking the guys out. So?"
Sakura blushed. She supposed she had been, at that. "Well, they were taking their shirts off just under my nose."
Yumeko rolled her eyes. "Bet you the guys she's used to are a lot more -- Sakura!! What happened to you?!"
Pausing in the process of pulling the swimsuit's shoulder straps up her arms, Sakura blinked over her shoulder at the two girls, puzzled. They were staring at her back with wide eyes. "What's the matter?"
"When did you get THAT?" Yumeko demanded, pointing at -- ah, right. She'd almost forgotten. Her first big on-mission injury.
"Uhm, a few months ago?"
"And no one warned us?! You'd think telling your family about grievous bodily harm..."
Sakura winced. Her parents had been so panicked, she was pretty sure it had slipped their mind. "Yume-chan, it's really nothing..."
"Nothing? It's so big and the edges are all -- torn and purplish -- how deep was it?" Kimi asked softly, a hand over her mouth to hide her grimace, light brown eyes soft in empathy.
Sakura pulled the straps up quickly and turned to face them, hiding the scar from view. "I'm fine, it was only ten days at the hospital and it didn't even nick anything important."
"A few inches to the side and it would have nicked your spine," Yumeko retorted, hands on her hips in a way that was reminiscent of both their mothers, an impression that her burningly red hair and outraged glower didn't help.
Sakura sighed. "Give me some credit, I can aim better than that."
"Aim? You mean, you chose to take that hit? And what was it anyway?"
"Classified," she snapped back, annoyed to be berated. She was proud of that scar, damn it! It was a scar that meant she could be more than dead weight and would do her duty no matter what, and wouldn't abandon her teammates, ever. "It was only a flesh wound. It happens sometimes. I'm fine now."
"Only a -- Sakura, are you listening to yourself?"
Why did Yumeko have to take on the same stern, disappointed, scared tones her mother used? It wasn't fair! "It was that or letting my teacher die, and if he'd died we would all have been picked off one by one and we'd have failed the mission, okay? Comparatively speaking, some time at the hospital is really nothing at all."
Yumeko looked horrified and a little guilty now. "... Sakura... I don't -- okay, maybe... if you knew what you were doing, I guess -- it's just that it's a shock to see something ugly like that on you..."
She hadn't know what she was doing, per se. It had been too frantic and hurried and blurred and confusing, and she'd reacted before thinking it through, and hoped for the best. But... It was the first time she'd been more than a nuisance, more than the backup no one really relies on. Usually it was always Kakashi-sensei who carried the mission, and when it wasn't him, it was Sasuke-kun or Naruto. And she stayed on the sidelines and watched, or got targeted purely to distract them, and she hated that. "I know it's ugly, but so what? It's here to stay, and that's it. It's better than the alternative."
Kimi winced, and Yumeko scowled, apparently offended by her tone. Sakura sighed.
"Listen... I like being pretty as much as the next girl, but some things are a little more important than being pretty. It's not as if I own any clothes that show it off anyway, so it doesn't matter much. And I think the boys are drowning each other."
Yumeko still looked torn between outrage and horror, and Kimi was openly shocked, watching her with wide pitying eyes. Sakura nudged the blonde gently, smiling apologetically. "Don't worry, alright? It just was an accident, I'm fine now. Let's go swim a little."
She herded Kimi toward the river, and Yumeko followed, still visibly unhappy.
Ken was dunking Hiroshi when they arrived; he whistled when he saw them, letting go of his victim to waddle closer to the steep bank. "Hey, babes. I was getting lonely."
Yumeko chuckled at him, though it sounded halfhearted to Sakura's ears, and took on a mock-sexy pose, showing off her curves. Ken leered and climbed on a rock to give out his hand chivalrously... and then Hiroshi burst out of the water, wrapped his arms around his neck and dunked him right back. Junta, who had been swimming a cautious distance away, started snickering at the same time as Sakura and Kimi burst into giggles.
The two boys emerged, and immediately started grappling in the waist-deep current. Yumeko rolled her eyes and started looking for a way down that wasn't too slippery. Sakura just hopped down, and thought about proposing her help to her cousin, but Yumeko studiously avoided her eyes as she stubbornly made her own way down the muddy rocks. With a sigh, Sakura went to help steady Kimi instead.
The water was surprisingly cold. She took her time getting wet, moving upstream cautiously when Hiroshi and Ken finally reached a cease-fire and started giving the still-mostly-dry girls speculative glances. She wasn't going in until she was good and ready.
She was still only thigh-deep when Kimi shrieked; she was across Ken's shoulders and being carried to the faster, deeper part of the river. Behind them, Yumeko was attempting to follow them by stepping on the stones that stuck out of the water. Her balance wasn't so good, though, especially since Hiroshi kept splashing her -- and now Junta was approaching her from behind. Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Hey!" she called out as she dived, suppressing a shiver. She was going to make things a bit more equal.
A half-hour later, the sides had shifted so much she wasn't sure who was on who's side at the moment and everyone had been dunked at least four times, her included. The ambushes died down, and she was able to find herself a deeper spot where she could swim against the current undisturbed.
Kimi seemed to have forgotten the earlier incident; she was cheering happily on Junta and Hiroshi as they swam against a particularly swift current. Yumeko, though, was sitting on a rock, legs swinging moodily in the water; Ken was apparently trying to make her talk, if she judged by his body language, the way he leaned toward her and nudged her leg gently when she shrugged. Sakura tried not to read their lips; she couldn't help but catch her name, though.
Ken turned around, seeing her watching, and signaled her closer with a wide gesture. "Oi, pink-ninja-babe!"
Sighing, she waddled toward the two of them. She had a feeling she knew what it was about, and she could have done without the interest his yelling had commandeered from the rest of the group.
"Yes?"
"What's up, guys?" Kimi asked, stepping toward them, and then hesitated as she saw Yumeko's sour and annoyed face. "Should I leave you alone?"
"No, it's fine," Sakura replied with a wince. "You were there, if this is about what I think it is."
Curious, Hiroshi swam closer; Junta found himself alone and with a shrug, he followed, more slowly.
"What's up?" Hiroshi asked, looking at all of them, brown eyes openly puzzled.
Ken just shrugged at him, then turned to look at Sakura. "You got battle scars?" he asked bluntly. Beside him, her cousin groaned and kicked his leg. "Oh, god, you're so subtle."
"Ken! How dare you ask her that?! You're so insensitive!" Kimi blurted out, shocked and offended on Sakura's behalf. "It's not a curiosity!"
"Hey, hey, I just wanted to know what Sexy-Red was brooding over! The way she says it, it sounds like her cousin was almost cut in half or something."
Sakura stared at Yumeko, who shrugged and looked at her feet sulkily. "What? It DOES."
"... battle scars?" Junta finally breathed out. He sounded awed. Sakura wondered if thinking that being a ninja -- with all that entailed -- was cool was better or worse than thinking it was awful.
Kimi shook her little fist at him, too. "Oh, you shush! The pain was probably awful and now she's going to have that scar forever, and you think it's neat! You're even more insensitive than Ken." She huffed, crossing her arms.
Sakura cringed, and patted her shoulder gently. "It's alright, Kimi-chan, it really doesn't bother me so much anymore. And, well, I understand -- all the boys I know are all 'look, my scars are cooler than yours!', so it's not as if I wasn't expecting that. Seriously, it's like the more gross and scary they are and the cooler guys think it is."
Kimi huffed again, still pouting. "Boys, I swear! You're heartless freaks, all of you," she added, turning to glare at the three boys in turn. Junta looked properly chastened, Ken looked like he was mentally going 'yeah, yeah, heard it all before' and Hiroshi was blinking, still confused.
"Hey, I didn't say anything!" he protested.
"I bet you think it's great, too!"
"What? No! I mean, okay, on a guy it makes it look like you're strong --"
"More like you're stupid," Yumeko interjected from her perch on the rock.
"--but not on a girl!"
Inner Sakura reared her head for the first time since she'd left Konoha. /WHAT?! What does it mean, girls aren't allowed to be badass now? Girls aren't allowed to protect?/ Sakura twitched, trying to keep a smooth expression. That offended her; she was chafing at always being treated like a precious doll to treat with care and wrap in cotton fluff while the big boys took care of serious matters, at being treated like she was too shallow to even consider holding some things more dear than unmarred beauty.
But they had never had to make that kind of choice, hopefully never would. And she liked being pretty and fashionable, enough to understand Kimi and Yumeko's attitudes, to understand that boys weren't expected to care as much. The meaning was different.
"Please, everyone! Stop it, all right?" she paused, troubled, when she ended up stared at by them all, but forced herself to continue. "It's just a scar, and sure, it's not pretty and I don't like showing it off, but -- I'm not traumatized over it, really I'm not." Softly, she touched Kimi's arm, gave her cousin a pleading look, trying to reassure them.
"So, can we see it?"
"Ken!!" Kimi snapped, as Yumeko kicked him again.
"Ow! But she said it didn't bother her--"
"Guys, it's alright!" Sakura repeated, stepping forward to stop Yumeko from hitting him. "I can let them see too this once, it's alright," she capitulated. "I just don't like wearing back-less tops, that's it. And even before that I didn't like them so much, so I'm not missing anything."
"Sakura --"
"It's alright," she repeated, more firmly. She turned around, letting the straps of her swimsuit slip down her arms, then, holding the front firmly against her chest, she twisted her arm behind her and pulled the back down.
There was silence for a few seconds, during which she couldn't help but feel vaguely nauseous as she waited for a verdict.
"...huh. Not as large as I thought," Ken muttered after a moment, though he didn't sound as dismissive as the words themselves would have needed.
She let go, hiding it again, and turned to face them. She was blushing now, feeling self-conscious. It wasn't her only scar -- her arms and legs sported fine white lines where she'd been cut -- but it was the only one that couldn't go unnoticed. She wondered if they had a better idea of what being a ninja was like now.
"... It doesn't still hurt, right?" Hiroshi asked, grimacing in sympathy.
"Oh, no, it's been healed for a while now. I can stretch just fine, the muscles..." had been re-grown and reattached, she almost said, but then decided that it was too much information, "weren't as damaged as it looks like they were, and we have very good healers. Really, it looks worse than it was."
She fidgeted. Junta was still gaping, a bit less fascinated now. She wondered if he was imagining the kind of trauma that had been needed to mark her like that. Ken was pretending to be cool, and Hiroshi was giving her a commiserating look. The girls of course were just as horrified and pitying as they'd been, which bothered her quite a bit.
"It's not the end of the world, you know," she snapped, putting her hands on her hips. "Way to make me feel like a freak."
They all flinched, more or less.
"Ah -- sorry, Sakura," Yumeko apologized softly. "It was a shock... I'm sorry."
"... I'm sorry I didn't think to ask Mom if you'd been warned," Sakura apologized in turn, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. Her cousin looked up and smiled at her.
"Whoa, Sexy-Red apologized."
"Oh, just shut up, Ken-ken," Yumeko snapped back, and shoved him in the water. She slipped off her rock, shivering as she ended up thigh-deep in the current. "Brr, water's cold. And isn't it time to eat by now?"
Well, the subtle subject changes must be a family trait, Sakura thought for herself, and quickly jumped on the occasion.
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Also, it is good to be reminded that there are civilians in the Naruto world. Once again, it's easy to forget that not everyone is a great powerful ninja with some secret all-powerful attack. Some people are just normal, completely, boringly normal. Apart from the Zabuza arc and one or two other pages in the manga (I'm not past the chuunin exams in the anime), we don't really see civilians. It's hard to remember them at all, even though Sakura, unlike Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke, Ino, or any other of the Konoha kids I know of for sure (or Sandsibs for that matter) comes from a normal family.
We underestimate her a lot, but it's good to put in perspective just how string and determined she really is. (Especially post-timeskip. ::drool::).
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*is happy*