![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
teamwork 3 scene 6 - sakura
I promise, the second this chapter is complete I'll repost everything in order and correctly numbered. Don't have time for links right now though, and this follows the latest naruto pov scene anyway, it's just I have half-there bunnies about little scenes that need to be inserted before sasuke's and i know they'll get confusing. so. yeah.
not sure what's wrong with this scene, maybe nothing, I have a feeling sasuke becomes a nonentity by the end, he was getting hard to feel for me. will flesh out later. or maybe rewrite the end it kinda bugs me. not betaed i'm so sleepy my god five am again no.fucking italics.
Previous
Sakura
Sakura hadn't been in any kind of suiting frame of mind, so when she felt Sasuke's lips on her shoulder at first she didn't even get it. There were a few seconds of blank as her thoughts screeched to a stop, derailed from jealous anger to a kind of shocked little thrill.
Sasuke had just kissed her. It had been genuine -- approval and affection -- and entirely spontaneous. And, oh, she didn't even know where to start wondering.
So she wasn't really paying attention when Sasuke took point to direct them where the last of the kunoichi trio had fallen. But when the curly-haired blonde slowed down to her side, well, Sakura wasn't about to act grossly unprofessional in front of her, and like hell she would let the annoying girl see her flustered. Thankfully, she was pretty sure Kigane's back had been turned for the kiss...
Her unfriendly sideway look didn't seem to faze Kigane any. "So." The blonde smiled. "I just wanted to make sure, so I don't step on your toes again... Are you and Naruto-kun going out, or what?"
Sakura's eyelid twitched, her elation entirely snuffed out. Was Kigane trying to get in her good graces via girl talk? After that stunt with cuddling up to Naruto, all 'ooh, you big strong male, take me in your arms, protect me...' Urgh!
"I didn't even think you two might -- I mean, there was this rumor about you and another girl and the shower room, so I kind of assumed..."
Sakura's face caught on fire, and with it her only chance to categorically deny any of it. "H-how do you -- what makes you think I --"
Kigane waved a hand in denial as she trotted at Sakura's side. "Oh, please, there aren't many kunoichis with pink hair around the island, you know. Well, there's one with magenta and I think another with peach, but it was more orangeish."
This time, Sakura paled. "You thought I was a lesbian?!"
A few steps ahead, Sasuke's foot skipped on a stone and he almost messed up his landing. Sakura's mortification reached new heights.
"... Come on, two girls, one shower stall, funny noises..."
Sasuke's shoulders twitched in a suspicious way and he made a quiet snorting noise. Sakura briefly wished to die.
Kigane caught sight of Sakura's face and winced, lifting her hands defensively. "Oh, there's nothing wrong about being a lesbian! Some of my good friends are lesbians. I mean, alright, like I told Naruto-kun, a Chuunin exam isn't the best place to come out, but..."
"I'm not a lesbian!"
Sasuke stopped pretending not to listen to the conversation, looking over his shoulder. Sakura looked away quickly, aware that she was blushing once again.
"Naruto came out, huh?" He quirked an eyebrow at the blonde, a clear demand for an explanation. "When'd that happen?"
"Oh, we were just joking!" Kigane paused. "...I think."
Sasuke's lips twitched downward. Sakura knew Sasuke's expressions intimately, and it only happened when he was trying not to smile. Curse him.
"Naruto's not ga -- not a girl! Crossdresser. Lesbian. Thing."
Kigane blinked innocently. "Transexual?"
"Yes -- no! He's not. He's a hundred percent man. He was just -- it was a henge. In the shower."
"Oooooh. Things totally make sense now."
There were very few things that made her want to bite Sasuke. Or punch him a little. Sakura, once upon a time, had been prepared to say there were none. That was before she caught similar 'I'm not going to laugh, I'm not going to laugh' twitches on both his face and that boyfriend-stealing bimbo's.
She could have snarled something back -- something she would have regretted later, such as 'shouldn't you worry less about a stranger's sex life and more about how your teammate is bleeding out on those rocks?' -- but then she caught sight of the teammate in question, and her embarrassment disappeared.
"Sasuke. Perimeter check," she snapped without looking away from the prone girl, all joking forgotten. "You, come with me." Sakura leaped up the series of jutting boulders, going straight for the unmoving body caught on the slope.
The trail of gravel and torn plants was clear, as was the blood tracked down the slope; if the girl hadn't managed -- or been lucky enough -- to get her spear's butt stuck in a crack and wedge her body underneath, she would have slid all the way down to the bottom. Or at least all the way to the closest sharp-edged boulders. The way the brunette lay curled around the wood shaft, Sakura hoped the impact hadn't been violent enough to break her floating ribs.
"Beni-chan!" All elegance or daintiness forgotten, the blonde scrambled up to her teammate on hands and feet, kicking up dust and loose pebbles.
There was nothing to easily stick to; a shallow chakra hold would only mean more earth and small rocks would come down with you. Sakura spread her area of contact, reaching down vertically with her chakra so she could get to the packed earth underneath.
"Don't touch her." She stepped up slowly, making sure of every hold. Kigane slid back down, bumping against her leg. Sakura's hold strained for a second as rocks shifted under her heel, and then stabilized. "... There. Don't move. Beni? I'm a medic-nin." Sakura's heartbeat sped up for a second. She wasn't -- she just wasn’t, not yet. But she had some training, and that would have to be enough. "I'm going to touch you now."
She leaned forward, placing the back of her hand against the brunette's lips. For a second, she didn't feel anything, and then there was a puff of breath. Another. She counted.
"She's breathing," she said neutrally. No red foam at her lips. Hopefully her lungs were fine. "Kigane, I need you to find another hold. You're in my way."
The blonde moved to the side and skidded down to the closest rock -- laughably easy to control, for one who wasn't already injured. Beni really hadn't needed any of those wounds aggravated. Sakura braced herself for what she might find, and moved closer, pulling off her gloves and tucking them in her belt pouch.
First, check up the skeleton. Green haloed her hands, which she ran lightly over the girl's skull -- no swelling in her brain; good -- down her shoulders and dangling legs. She had to reach up and over to be able to check on her spine -- no break, no swelling. Sakura breathed a little more easily. The ribs were more difficult to access, with how Beni curled on her side around the spear, but Sakura reached her chakra farther until she could have a clear image of them. She found a crack; they'd have to be careful not to let it splinter, Sakura had never learned how to heal bones and she wasn't willing to wing it. No, she was only sure of herself with flesh wounds.
She had her work cut out for her. The girl had been stabbed just over the hip, her arms and legs showed more road rash than whole skin, one of her knees was sprained, and her abdomen was one giant, painfully deep bruise. Sakura looked up at Sasuke, perched at the top of the hill. "Her spine is fine. We'll move her. Kigane, try to prepare somewhere comfortable up there."
The girl opened her mouth to speak, but in the end she went, her face a picture of worry. Sasuke came down the side, to avoid showering them in dust, and joined Sakura. She'd caught the flash of Sharingan, so she wasn't surprised when he grasped the way she held steady on the loose soil right away. Cheater.
"How?"
Sakura pulled the light canvas they used to ward off the rain out of her pouch as she considered it. She wasn't sure; Tsunade had never covered it. Beni's position wasn't the best. They couldn't roll her on her back since it was uphill and she would slide right out of the improvised stretcher, and if she rolled downhill, she would fall face down on her cracked ribs and injured arms before she rolled on her back again.
"We'll slip that between her and the spear, try to get it under her as much as possible, then we block her body with our legs and the cloth and pull the spear out... Then we'll see. Her ribs are cracked, so be careful," she cautioned.
Sasuke worked Beni's legs in the folded stretcher in silence, following Sakura's slow and cautious lead.
"... That's where I'm missing Naruto," she commented quietly. "It would be so much easier with you two holding the ends, we could make her slide right in." She looked up; she didn't think Kigane's arms were strong enough to hold steady, and she didn't trust the girl's chakra hold either. Oh, it wasn't too difficult for anyone who knew how to water-walk, but Sakura wasn't prepared to risk it just yet.
Eventually, Beni was loaded on the improvised stretcher, laying straight enough that Sakura wasn't afraid they'd break her ribs. They carried her up. Kigane had prepared a hollow, up where the slope softened, kicked rocks away and pulled grass and leaves to cushion the ground a bit.
Kigane sank to her knees beside her teammates, a hand on her mouth as she took in the drying blood and abraded skin. "Oh, oh Beni-chan..." she whispered, caressing the brunette's forehead lightly.
"Most of that is skin-deep," Sakura commented dispassionately as she crouched on the other side of the unconscious girl. "Do you have any water? It needs to be cleaned."
Kigane pulled a gourd out of her skin pouch and handed it to Sakura, who frowned slightly as it sloshed. Not a lot of water left, but she wasn't going to use her own water to clean up a rival.
The stab wound was mostly clean, but she made sure no dirt stuck to the lips of the wound before she started working on closing it. "Try getting the gravel out," she told the other girl absently. "As much of it as you can."
Kigane's eyes roamed over the larges stretches of scratches, dust and blood stuck together around shredded bandages. She sucked in her breath, and nodded. "... Okay."
Sakura spared an uncharitable thought on the girl's uneasy silence and vaguely green face -- much better than her giggling in Naruto's ear -- and pushed her awareness of anything but the wound out of her mind.
Beni woke up at some point, but Kigane petted her hair until she relaxed again. She didn't make a sound. Sakura sealed the last of the stab wound and started picking out gravel and washing off various debris.
"Stupid bandages... 'sposed to prevent that..."
Sakura arched an eyebrow and picked cloth fibers out of a scabbing scratch; Beni was in enough general pain that she didn't notice the twinge. "It would have been a lot worse without them." She eyed the girl's skin thoughtfully. A lot of the damage was on the same side, where she'd slid; the rest was just a couple of scratches. She nudged Beni to lean on that side and started in on what she could reach of her back. "I'll close the ones that might scar, but I can't waste the chakra needed to close everything."
There had been internal bruising to fix, too. That one, Tsunade hadn't exactly taught her -- but it was close enough to flesh mending for her purposes. She'd been careful.
"Can't do anything for your ribs, though. We'll bandage them tight, but you'll have to be careful."
Beni grunted and closed her eyes. Sakura wasn't sure she was in any state to listen, but hopefully Kigane would remind her.
Picking out gravel was a long, painstaking process, and a rather gross one at that. Sakura would have blood under her nails for days, she just knew it, and there were little bits of flesh and flaps of skin that only held by a string. It didn't really bother her, not until Kigane found a pot of salve to combat infection in Beni's pack.
The salve was a creamy white paste, and one whose components were known to Sakura, all perfectly safe and appropriate.
The scent hit her nose, and suddenly she could smell everything, the thick, cloying salve that seemed to gather at the back of her mouth, the sourness of the binding agent, and the heavy smell of raw meat. Human meat.
Very professionally, Sakura sat back on her heels, wiped her hands on a length of bandage, swiveled around in a precise half-circle, and threw up.
Sasuke was at her side in an instant. "Sakura?"
"It's nothing," she said, and sipped a mouthful of water to rinse her teeth. Sasuke moved loose earth over the incriminating spot with his foot, dampening the stink of stomach acid.
He stood a little closer, his leg brushing her shoulder. "Are you sure?"
Sakura spared a little smile for him. "Uh huh. Just, you know."
Sasuke's eyes softened a little, and his voice went quiet, a little teasing. "Bothersome. It's not even morning."
Sakura chuckled a little and rubbed at her temples. She was lower on chakra than she'd thought. She turned back to the wounded. Kigane was still holding the pot, staring at her.
"... Uh... Has it gone bad?"
"No, it's fine," Sakura said, and hoped she wouldn't have to explain herself.
"Are you sick -- oh! By 'morning,' you meant..." Kigane's vaguely interested expression became confused, and a lot more serious. "... You're pregnant?"
... Damn it. Sasuke's voice hadn't been quiet enough. Why wasn't she paying attention to her teammate, damn it? Alright, maybe keeping on applying a salve that made your medic throw up was a bad idea...
"... Yes," Sakura growled, and hoped her tone was forbidding enough. It wasn't any of Kigane's business. "The salve. Are you trying to have it dry out?"
"--Oh, right."
Kigane started applying it on clean scratches again; Sakura went back to cleaning dirty areas. "Don't put it on too thick," she commented neutrally, though she still frowned. She had absolutely zero interest in becoming friends with that team. Especially Kigane.
"Have you started thinking of names yet?"
Sakura stared down at Beni, who lay stiff and wincing, and grinned ruefully at her.
"... Uh. ...What?"
Beni's features were strained with pain and exhaustion, but she managed a little smirk anyway. "Baby. Names?"
Kigane blinked and smiled too. "Oh, that's right! I mean, you're not very advanced right now, I don't think? It doesn't show. But maybe you've thought about it anyway?"
Sasuke twitched and retreated to a boulder a dozen steps away. Sakura barely noticed; she was still trying to get her brain in gear.
Baby... Names? ... For the... baby?
... For her child?
... Oh. Oh.
She'd forgotten a little, she thought, that it wasn't only a growing lump of cell that made her get sick and demanded so many difficult sacrifice. It was a little person-to-be, too.
It needed -- he or she needed -- a name, too. A name to represent them -- him, her.
"Uh, doc?" Beni said, tone dry and amused. Sakura blinked down at her uncomprehendingly. "That's still attached."
Sakura looked down at her hand, and realized she was trying to pull out some skin along with the bit of straw stuck there. "... Oh crap, I'm sorry! I didn't mean --"
"Eh, hurts everywhere right now. 'S okay."
Sakura cringed guiltily. It was because Beni hurt everywhere that she shouldn't make it worse! Sakura feathered soothing green chakra along Beni's side, closing more scratches as an apology. The girl relaxed a little, closing her eyes to enjoy the momentary relief.
"Where's Jin?"
Sakura took the salve from Kigane and started applying to Beni's legs as the blonde updated her friends on everything that happened from the moment she was knocked down and left behind. Sakura pretended not to listen, offering them some privacy as her mind kept running. A baby, a child, a person. Sakura felt dizzy. A teenager, her age, older even...
"And then we came back and found you pinned to the side of the hill, my god, don't ever scare me like that again." Kigane shot an angry look at Sasuke, who barely deigned glancing back before he turned his attention back on their surroundings. "... Someone could have taken a second to pull you up before you fell," she told Beni, who chuckled and immediately regretted it.
"... Oww. S'okay, Ki-chan..."
"She should have been fine," Sasuke said, glancing at them over his shoulder. From him, Sakura knew it was almost an apology. Kigane's eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, there was a big rock underneath," Beni acknowledged easily. "Just wasn't rooted as deep as it looked, I guess."
"Hrrm. Still."
"Two seconds later and I would have arrived in time to see that guy cut you in two," Sasuke said, vaguely annoyed. "You'd rather I had wasted the time?"
Kigane bristled.
"... And since we're talking about unpleasant things," Sakura cut her off before she could talk, "This taxed a lot more of my chakra than I can casually spare. So that will be two tokens."
The blonde really didn't look as friendly when she glared, stiff with offense and self-righteousness. "Her ribs are still broken and she can't even walk! That's not worth two tokens."
Sakura's eyes narrowed. She didn't need to break eye contact to know that Sasuke was slowly moving to stand at her back, silent, his presence enough of a threat that he didn't need to posture or make a sound.
"Kigane-san," Sakura said, and smiled as gently as she could fake. She was out of patience with her. "You can either give us the second token, or we can take it. We're not willing to see other Konoha ninjas die, but that's as far as we're going to be taken advantage of."
"And you think she won't die, if she has to lay here for a week waiting for the test to end?! She can't even breathe without pain!"
Sakura scowled, false smile melting off. "Fine. I can't fix her ribs. I'll throw in a healing for either the knee or the skin. Your choice, Beni. Be aware I can't fix the knee entirely. Muscles and skin are one thing, ligaments another. It still won't heal entirely without rest."
She looked down at the exhausted brunette, who watched them fight with an air of weary cynicism.
"... Knee. Rather be able to move. Gotta hike."
Kigane gave her a worried look, but ultimately nodded, though with visible reluctance. "... Fine. A second token."
Sasuke was frowning, as if asking 'are you sure?' Sakura nodded and gave him a brief smile. She was going to be tired, but nothing huge. She just wasn't willing to drain herself to the brink of exhaustion for anyone not part of Team Seven. She still had some leeway.
"Okay. Hand them over first."
Unhappily, Kigane fished a little purse out of her obi-like belt and handed two of the copper disks inside to her. Sakura stuffed them in her pocket, noticing without surprise that she'd lied when she told them Jin was the one keeping them for the team.
Healing the knee took a little more concentration than she'd hoped; ligaments were complex things. Still, she pushed herself to the limits of Tsunade's teachings, because she had her pride, damn it.
Besides, there would still be the cracked ribs and general soreness to make sure they didn't try to backstab Team Seven.
She hadn't really been aware that Sasuke was a little tense; but she noticed when he relaxed. "Here comes Naruto. Not too soon," he added with fake annoyance.
For a second she wondered what kind of baby names he would prefer. Sakura nodded, and kept working. It wasn't the time for those thoughts.
Almost done... Almost... There! When she sat up in triumph and wiped her forehead, Naruto was standing at her side and looking mildly concerned. She took him in quickly -- no wounds, not that he wouldn't heal fast on his own, no torn clothes. It seemed to have gone easy. Clothes dirty, hair in disarray, Jin looked a little frazzled, but more grouchy than injured.
He wouldn't look Naruto in the eye. Oh, who cared. Naruto was back, he was safe, and he'd gotten the boy back safe and sound. Sakura climbed up on her feet and smiled. "What took you so long, slowpoke?"
She was pretty sure all his baby names would be utterly ridiculous. She looked forward to hearing them, almost enough to forgive him the bathroom lesbian fiasco.
She kept smiling up until Sasuke stepped up to them, stone-faced, and plucked a single meter-long, smoke-gray hair off their boyfriend's T-shirt.
It could have been meaningless. They'd been in a fight. Accidental crashes happened. Naruto could have picked Jin up to throw him to safety. Jin could have been combing his hair in an air draft, with Naruto at the other end, even.
But none of it would have made Naruto cringe.
He didn't look guilty, though, he looked a little pained, as if knowing what this looked like, and having no good defense, and already bracing himself for the backlash.
"... Argh!" Sakura snarled, whirling to face the little trio. "First that blonde bimbo, and now you!" She slapped her fist into her palm, but Sasuke's shoulder checked her before she could think about pouncing. How could he not be livid? She was livid! "I swear if you two ever put the moves on Naruto again ...! And you." Sakura pointed. Beni blinked. "I fixed your body, I can break it again!"
"Chill, I'm not interested." Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Beni chuckled weakly. "I don't date guys who are smaller than me."
Sakura huffed and crossed her arms. Naruto touched her shoulder, and made a little grimace. "Sakura-chan -- I didn't --"
"I know you didn't, but he did!"
"Well, um, it's kind of his job--"
Turning to glare down Naruto and his stupid undermining honor and facts that were getting in the way of her righteous anger, Sakura didn't understand what Sasuke was doing at first, when he stepped closer touched her hip.
Then, as he lifted his prize in the air, she wondered how she had inherited one of Jin's hair.
Except it wasn't a hair. It was way too thin, more like spider-web, and almost entirely transparent.
... It also came from her pocket. The one where she'd stuffed their newly gained tokens. And as Sasuke gently tugged on the wire, the tokens slipped free, dangling from the sticky tip of the wire.
Kigane gave them a sheepish grin. "Hey, I had to try, right?"
+
Four copper tokens chimed in Sasuke's hand as he strolled casually in the general direction of the lighthouse in the distance. Sakura stomped along at his side, more than ready to leave the kunoichi team far, far behind. Naruto was still grinning in relief of not having been blamed, and she felt a little bad for that, for him thinking they trusted him so little.
"Sakura, Naruto, you still have yours?"
Sakura was pretty sure that if anyone had tried to get at her breasts, she would have noticed, but she checked anyway, brushing her hand discreetly against the front of her bra, and got a leer from Naruto for her trouble. "... I have mine."
Naruto tapped his forehead protector. "Got mine too. I'm gonna have a circle branded on my forehead in the end, I swear."
"Plus their three, plus that Rock ninja's... Only two left," Sasuke commented as he threw one token each to his teammates. Sakura snatched hers up and turned away so that Naruto couldn't ogle as she slipped it in her bra. She'd forgotten Sasuke could, and she blushed, but at least the glance he snuck down her top was more discreet.
"Heh. We rule!" Naruto lifted a fist in victory, then slouched a little. "Still, I feel kind of evil, for ruining their chances like that. We shoulda targeted another team, one not from our village..."
"They deserved it for not knowing when to quit." Sasuke shrugged. "They would have been eliminated anyway. Just with more blood."
"Hey, you don't know that," Naruto replied halfheartedly.
Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Know what? If we end up with too many tokens, you're welcome to offer the surplus to random people."
"Except it will mean more enemies for the tournament," Sakura commented. Naruto and Sasuke gave her a look like she was missing the point.
"That's bad how?"
"That's supposed to be bad?"
They blinked at each other and gave each other glares. Sakura sighed heavily and allowed them to lead the way. Men.
Now that she was a little less angry, she did feel slightly bad for snatching the token bag out of Kigane's hand and declaring it payment for use of Naruto, and for trying to fool them again after they'd gone out of their way to save their teammate's lives. Well, Beni probably wouldn't have died, but she would have gotten an infection and spent a few more weeks recovering, at the very least. And maybe the Rock guy would have only beat Jin up instead of gutting him. And Sakura was tired, and cranky, and hungry except she was also feeling slightly sick again. And pregnant. She felt pregnant, too, not that she would have had a clue how to describe it, whether it was a physical sensation or a passing mood or purely in her head.
She lifted a hand to her belly, felt for the almost invisible curve there. "... Hey, guys..."
Sasuke and Naruto paused and turned to look at her, puzzled by her soft tone.
"For a girl, what do you think of Nadeshiko?"
END CHAPTER
Next.
not sure what's wrong with this scene, maybe nothing, I have a feeling sasuke becomes a nonentity by the end, he was getting hard to feel for me. will flesh out later. or maybe rewrite the end it kinda bugs me. not betaed i'm so sleepy my god five am again no.fucking italics.
Previous
Sakura
Sakura hadn't been in any kind of suiting frame of mind, so when she felt Sasuke's lips on her shoulder at first she didn't even get it. There were a few seconds of blank as her thoughts screeched to a stop, derailed from jealous anger to a kind of shocked little thrill.
Sasuke had just kissed her. It had been genuine -- approval and affection -- and entirely spontaneous. And, oh, she didn't even know where to start wondering.
So she wasn't really paying attention when Sasuke took point to direct them where the last of the kunoichi trio had fallen. But when the curly-haired blonde slowed down to her side, well, Sakura wasn't about to act grossly unprofessional in front of her, and like hell she would let the annoying girl see her flustered. Thankfully, she was pretty sure Kigane's back had been turned for the kiss...
Her unfriendly sideway look didn't seem to faze Kigane any. "So." The blonde smiled. "I just wanted to make sure, so I don't step on your toes again... Are you and Naruto-kun going out, or what?"
Sakura's eyelid twitched, her elation entirely snuffed out. Was Kigane trying to get in her good graces via girl talk? After that stunt with cuddling up to Naruto, all 'ooh, you big strong male, take me in your arms, protect me...' Urgh!
"I didn't even think you two might -- I mean, there was this rumor about you and another girl and the shower room, so I kind of assumed..."
Sakura's face caught on fire, and with it her only chance to categorically deny any of it. "H-how do you -- what makes you think I --"
Kigane waved a hand in denial as she trotted at Sakura's side. "Oh, please, there aren't many kunoichis with pink hair around the island, you know. Well, there's one with magenta and I think another with peach, but it was more orangeish."
This time, Sakura paled. "You thought I was a lesbian?!"
A few steps ahead, Sasuke's foot skipped on a stone and he almost messed up his landing. Sakura's mortification reached new heights.
"... Come on, two girls, one shower stall, funny noises..."
Sasuke's shoulders twitched in a suspicious way and he made a quiet snorting noise. Sakura briefly wished to die.
Kigane caught sight of Sakura's face and winced, lifting her hands defensively. "Oh, there's nothing wrong about being a lesbian! Some of my good friends are lesbians. I mean, alright, like I told Naruto-kun, a Chuunin exam isn't the best place to come out, but..."
"I'm not a lesbian!"
Sasuke stopped pretending not to listen to the conversation, looking over his shoulder. Sakura looked away quickly, aware that she was blushing once again.
"Naruto came out, huh?" He quirked an eyebrow at the blonde, a clear demand for an explanation. "When'd that happen?"
"Oh, we were just joking!" Kigane paused. "...I think."
Sasuke's lips twitched downward. Sakura knew Sasuke's expressions intimately, and it only happened when he was trying not to smile. Curse him.
"Naruto's not ga -- not a girl! Crossdresser. Lesbian. Thing."
Kigane blinked innocently. "Transexual?"
"Yes -- no! He's not. He's a hundred percent man. He was just -- it was a henge. In the shower."
"Oooooh. Things totally make sense now."
There were very few things that made her want to bite Sasuke. Or punch him a little. Sakura, once upon a time, had been prepared to say there were none. That was before she caught similar 'I'm not going to laugh, I'm not going to laugh' twitches on both his face and that boyfriend-stealing bimbo's.
She could have snarled something back -- something she would have regretted later, such as 'shouldn't you worry less about a stranger's sex life and more about how your teammate is bleeding out on those rocks?' -- but then she caught sight of the teammate in question, and her embarrassment disappeared.
"Sasuke. Perimeter check," she snapped without looking away from the prone girl, all joking forgotten. "You, come with me." Sakura leaped up the series of jutting boulders, going straight for the unmoving body caught on the slope.
The trail of gravel and torn plants was clear, as was the blood tracked down the slope; if the girl hadn't managed -- or been lucky enough -- to get her spear's butt stuck in a crack and wedge her body underneath, she would have slid all the way down to the bottom. Or at least all the way to the closest sharp-edged boulders. The way the brunette lay curled around the wood shaft, Sakura hoped the impact hadn't been violent enough to break her floating ribs.
"Beni-chan!" All elegance or daintiness forgotten, the blonde scrambled up to her teammate on hands and feet, kicking up dust and loose pebbles.
There was nothing to easily stick to; a shallow chakra hold would only mean more earth and small rocks would come down with you. Sakura spread her area of contact, reaching down vertically with her chakra so she could get to the packed earth underneath.
"Don't touch her." She stepped up slowly, making sure of every hold. Kigane slid back down, bumping against her leg. Sakura's hold strained for a second as rocks shifted under her heel, and then stabilized. "... There. Don't move. Beni? I'm a medic-nin." Sakura's heartbeat sped up for a second. She wasn't -- she just wasn’t, not yet. But she had some training, and that would have to be enough. "I'm going to touch you now."
She leaned forward, placing the back of her hand against the brunette's lips. For a second, she didn't feel anything, and then there was a puff of breath. Another. She counted.
"She's breathing," she said neutrally. No red foam at her lips. Hopefully her lungs were fine. "Kigane, I need you to find another hold. You're in my way."
The blonde moved to the side and skidded down to the closest rock -- laughably easy to control, for one who wasn't already injured. Beni really hadn't needed any of those wounds aggravated. Sakura braced herself for what she might find, and moved closer, pulling off her gloves and tucking them in her belt pouch.
First, check up the skeleton. Green haloed her hands, which she ran lightly over the girl's skull -- no swelling in her brain; good -- down her shoulders and dangling legs. She had to reach up and over to be able to check on her spine -- no break, no swelling. Sakura breathed a little more easily. The ribs were more difficult to access, with how Beni curled on her side around the spear, but Sakura reached her chakra farther until she could have a clear image of them. She found a crack; they'd have to be careful not to let it splinter, Sakura had never learned how to heal bones and she wasn't willing to wing it. No, she was only sure of herself with flesh wounds.
She had her work cut out for her. The girl had been stabbed just over the hip, her arms and legs showed more road rash than whole skin, one of her knees was sprained, and her abdomen was one giant, painfully deep bruise. Sakura looked up at Sasuke, perched at the top of the hill. "Her spine is fine. We'll move her. Kigane, try to prepare somewhere comfortable up there."
The girl opened her mouth to speak, but in the end she went, her face a picture of worry. Sasuke came down the side, to avoid showering them in dust, and joined Sakura. She'd caught the flash of Sharingan, so she wasn't surprised when he grasped the way she held steady on the loose soil right away. Cheater.
"How?"
Sakura pulled the light canvas they used to ward off the rain out of her pouch as she considered it. She wasn't sure; Tsunade had never covered it. Beni's position wasn't the best. They couldn't roll her on her back since it was uphill and she would slide right out of the improvised stretcher, and if she rolled downhill, she would fall face down on her cracked ribs and injured arms before she rolled on her back again.
"We'll slip that between her and the spear, try to get it under her as much as possible, then we block her body with our legs and the cloth and pull the spear out... Then we'll see. Her ribs are cracked, so be careful," she cautioned.
Sasuke worked Beni's legs in the folded stretcher in silence, following Sakura's slow and cautious lead.
"... That's where I'm missing Naruto," she commented quietly. "It would be so much easier with you two holding the ends, we could make her slide right in." She looked up; she didn't think Kigane's arms were strong enough to hold steady, and she didn't trust the girl's chakra hold either. Oh, it wasn't too difficult for anyone who knew how to water-walk, but Sakura wasn't prepared to risk it just yet.
Eventually, Beni was loaded on the improvised stretcher, laying straight enough that Sakura wasn't afraid they'd break her ribs. They carried her up. Kigane had prepared a hollow, up where the slope softened, kicked rocks away and pulled grass and leaves to cushion the ground a bit.
Kigane sank to her knees beside her teammates, a hand on her mouth as she took in the drying blood and abraded skin. "Oh, oh Beni-chan..." she whispered, caressing the brunette's forehead lightly.
"Most of that is skin-deep," Sakura commented dispassionately as she crouched on the other side of the unconscious girl. "Do you have any water? It needs to be cleaned."
Kigane pulled a gourd out of her skin pouch and handed it to Sakura, who frowned slightly as it sloshed. Not a lot of water left, but she wasn't going to use her own water to clean up a rival.
The stab wound was mostly clean, but she made sure no dirt stuck to the lips of the wound before she started working on closing it. "Try getting the gravel out," she told the other girl absently. "As much of it as you can."
Kigane's eyes roamed over the larges stretches of scratches, dust and blood stuck together around shredded bandages. She sucked in her breath, and nodded. "... Okay."
Sakura spared an uncharitable thought on the girl's uneasy silence and vaguely green face -- much better than her giggling in Naruto's ear -- and pushed her awareness of anything but the wound out of her mind.
Beni woke up at some point, but Kigane petted her hair until she relaxed again. She didn't make a sound. Sakura sealed the last of the stab wound and started picking out gravel and washing off various debris.
"Stupid bandages... 'sposed to prevent that..."
Sakura arched an eyebrow and picked cloth fibers out of a scabbing scratch; Beni was in enough general pain that she didn't notice the twinge. "It would have been a lot worse without them." She eyed the girl's skin thoughtfully. A lot of the damage was on the same side, where she'd slid; the rest was just a couple of scratches. She nudged Beni to lean on that side and started in on what she could reach of her back. "I'll close the ones that might scar, but I can't waste the chakra needed to close everything."
There had been internal bruising to fix, too. That one, Tsunade hadn't exactly taught her -- but it was close enough to flesh mending for her purposes. She'd been careful.
"Can't do anything for your ribs, though. We'll bandage them tight, but you'll have to be careful."
Beni grunted and closed her eyes. Sakura wasn't sure she was in any state to listen, but hopefully Kigane would remind her.
Picking out gravel was a long, painstaking process, and a rather gross one at that. Sakura would have blood under her nails for days, she just knew it, and there were little bits of flesh and flaps of skin that only held by a string. It didn't really bother her, not until Kigane found a pot of salve to combat infection in Beni's pack.
The salve was a creamy white paste, and one whose components were known to Sakura, all perfectly safe and appropriate.
The scent hit her nose, and suddenly she could smell everything, the thick, cloying salve that seemed to gather at the back of her mouth, the sourness of the binding agent, and the heavy smell of raw meat. Human meat.
Very professionally, Sakura sat back on her heels, wiped her hands on a length of bandage, swiveled around in a precise half-circle, and threw up.
Sasuke was at her side in an instant. "Sakura?"
"It's nothing," she said, and sipped a mouthful of water to rinse her teeth. Sasuke moved loose earth over the incriminating spot with his foot, dampening the stink of stomach acid.
He stood a little closer, his leg brushing her shoulder. "Are you sure?"
Sakura spared a little smile for him. "Uh huh. Just, you know."
Sasuke's eyes softened a little, and his voice went quiet, a little teasing. "Bothersome. It's not even morning."
Sakura chuckled a little and rubbed at her temples. She was lower on chakra than she'd thought. She turned back to the wounded. Kigane was still holding the pot, staring at her.
"... Uh... Has it gone bad?"
"No, it's fine," Sakura said, and hoped she wouldn't have to explain herself.
"Are you sick -- oh! By 'morning,' you meant..." Kigane's vaguely interested expression became confused, and a lot more serious. "... You're pregnant?"
... Damn it. Sasuke's voice hadn't been quiet enough. Why wasn't she paying attention to her teammate, damn it? Alright, maybe keeping on applying a salve that made your medic throw up was a bad idea...
"... Yes," Sakura growled, and hoped her tone was forbidding enough. It wasn't any of Kigane's business. "The salve. Are you trying to have it dry out?"
"--Oh, right."
Kigane started applying it on clean scratches again; Sakura went back to cleaning dirty areas. "Don't put it on too thick," she commented neutrally, though she still frowned. She had absolutely zero interest in becoming friends with that team. Especially Kigane.
"Have you started thinking of names yet?"
Sakura stared down at Beni, who lay stiff and wincing, and grinned ruefully at her.
"... Uh. ...What?"
Beni's features were strained with pain and exhaustion, but she managed a little smirk anyway. "Baby. Names?"
Kigane blinked and smiled too. "Oh, that's right! I mean, you're not very advanced right now, I don't think? It doesn't show. But maybe you've thought about it anyway?"
Sasuke twitched and retreated to a boulder a dozen steps away. Sakura barely noticed; she was still trying to get her brain in gear.
Baby... Names? ... For the... baby?
... For her child?
... Oh. Oh.
She'd forgotten a little, she thought, that it wasn't only a growing lump of cell that made her get sick and demanded so many difficult sacrifice. It was a little person-to-be, too.
It needed -- he or she needed -- a name, too. A name to represent them -- him, her.
"Uh, doc?" Beni said, tone dry and amused. Sakura blinked down at her uncomprehendingly. "That's still attached."
Sakura looked down at her hand, and realized she was trying to pull out some skin along with the bit of straw stuck there. "... Oh crap, I'm sorry! I didn't mean --"
"Eh, hurts everywhere right now. 'S okay."
Sakura cringed guiltily. It was because Beni hurt everywhere that she shouldn't make it worse! Sakura feathered soothing green chakra along Beni's side, closing more scratches as an apology. The girl relaxed a little, closing her eyes to enjoy the momentary relief.
"Where's Jin?"
Sakura took the salve from Kigane and started applying to Beni's legs as the blonde updated her friends on everything that happened from the moment she was knocked down and left behind. Sakura pretended not to listen, offering them some privacy as her mind kept running. A baby, a child, a person. Sakura felt dizzy. A teenager, her age, older even...
"And then we came back and found you pinned to the side of the hill, my god, don't ever scare me like that again." Kigane shot an angry look at Sasuke, who barely deigned glancing back before he turned his attention back on their surroundings. "... Someone could have taken a second to pull you up before you fell," she told Beni, who chuckled and immediately regretted it.
"... Oww. S'okay, Ki-chan..."
"She should have been fine," Sasuke said, glancing at them over his shoulder. From him, Sakura knew it was almost an apology. Kigane's eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, there was a big rock underneath," Beni acknowledged easily. "Just wasn't rooted as deep as it looked, I guess."
"Hrrm. Still."
"Two seconds later and I would have arrived in time to see that guy cut you in two," Sasuke said, vaguely annoyed. "You'd rather I had wasted the time?"
Kigane bristled.
"... And since we're talking about unpleasant things," Sakura cut her off before she could talk, "This taxed a lot more of my chakra than I can casually spare. So that will be two tokens."
The blonde really didn't look as friendly when she glared, stiff with offense and self-righteousness. "Her ribs are still broken and she can't even walk! That's not worth two tokens."
Sakura's eyes narrowed. She didn't need to break eye contact to know that Sasuke was slowly moving to stand at her back, silent, his presence enough of a threat that he didn't need to posture or make a sound.
"Kigane-san," Sakura said, and smiled as gently as she could fake. She was out of patience with her. "You can either give us the second token, or we can take it. We're not willing to see other Konoha ninjas die, but that's as far as we're going to be taken advantage of."
"And you think she won't die, if she has to lay here for a week waiting for the test to end?! She can't even breathe without pain!"
Sakura scowled, false smile melting off. "Fine. I can't fix her ribs. I'll throw in a healing for either the knee or the skin. Your choice, Beni. Be aware I can't fix the knee entirely. Muscles and skin are one thing, ligaments another. It still won't heal entirely without rest."
She looked down at the exhausted brunette, who watched them fight with an air of weary cynicism.
"... Knee. Rather be able to move. Gotta hike."
Kigane gave her a worried look, but ultimately nodded, though with visible reluctance. "... Fine. A second token."
Sasuke was frowning, as if asking 'are you sure?' Sakura nodded and gave him a brief smile. She was going to be tired, but nothing huge. She just wasn't willing to drain herself to the brink of exhaustion for anyone not part of Team Seven. She still had some leeway.
"Okay. Hand them over first."
Unhappily, Kigane fished a little purse out of her obi-like belt and handed two of the copper disks inside to her. Sakura stuffed them in her pocket, noticing without surprise that she'd lied when she told them Jin was the one keeping them for the team.
Healing the knee took a little more concentration than she'd hoped; ligaments were complex things. Still, she pushed herself to the limits of Tsunade's teachings, because she had her pride, damn it.
Besides, there would still be the cracked ribs and general soreness to make sure they didn't try to backstab Team Seven.
She hadn't really been aware that Sasuke was a little tense; but she noticed when he relaxed. "Here comes Naruto. Not too soon," he added with fake annoyance.
For a second she wondered what kind of baby names he would prefer. Sakura nodded, and kept working. It wasn't the time for those thoughts.
Almost done... Almost... There! When she sat up in triumph and wiped her forehead, Naruto was standing at her side and looking mildly concerned. She took him in quickly -- no wounds, not that he wouldn't heal fast on his own, no torn clothes. It seemed to have gone easy. Clothes dirty, hair in disarray, Jin looked a little frazzled, but more grouchy than injured.
He wouldn't look Naruto in the eye. Oh, who cared. Naruto was back, he was safe, and he'd gotten the boy back safe and sound. Sakura climbed up on her feet and smiled. "What took you so long, slowpoke?"
She was pretty sure all his baby names would be utterly ridiculous. She looked forward to hearing them, almost enough to forgive him the bathroom lesbian fiasco.
She kept smiling up until Sasuke stepped up to them, stone-faced, and plucked a single meter-long, smoke-gray hair off their boyfriend's T-shirt.
It could have been meaningless. They'd been in a fight. Accidental crashes happened. Naruto could have picked Jin up to throw him to safety. Jin could have been combing his hair in an air draft, with Naruto at the other end, even.
But none of it would have made Naruto cringe.
He didn't look guilty, though, he looked a little pained, as if knowing what this looked like, and having no good defense, and already bracing himself for the backlash.
"... Argh!" Sakura snarled, whirling to face the little trio. "First that blonde bimbo, and now you!" She slapped her fist into her palm, but Sasuke's shoulder checked her before she could think about pouncing. How could he not be livid? She was livid! "I swear if you two ever put the moves on Naruto again ...! And you." Sakura pointed. Beni blinked. "I fixed your body, I can break it again!"
"Chill, I'm not interested." Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Beni chuckled weakly. "I don't date guys who are smaller than me."
Sakura huffed and crossed her arms. Naruto touched her shoulder, and made a little grimace. "Sakura-chan -- I didn't --"
"I know you didn't, but he did!"
"Well, um, it's kind of his job--"
Turning to glare down Naruto and his stupid undermining honor and facts that were getting in the way of her righteous anger, Sakura didn't understand what Sasuke was doing at first, when he stepped closer touched her hip.
Then, as he lifted his prize in the air, she wondered how she had inherited one of Jin's hair.
Except it wasn't a hair. It was way too thin, more like spider-web, and almost entirely transparent.
... It also came from her pocket. The one where she'd stuffed their newly gained tokens. And as Sasuke gently tugged on the wire, the tokens slipped free, dangling from the sticky tip of the wire.
Kigane gave them a sheepish grin. "Hey, I had to try, right?"
+
Four copper tokens chimed in Sasuke's hand as he strolled casually in the general direction of the lighthouse in the distance. Sakura stomped along at his side, more than ready to leave the kunoichi team far, far behind. Naruto was still grinning in relief of not having been blamed, and she felt a little bad for that, for him thinking they trusted him so little.
"Sakura, Naruto, you still have yours?"
Sakura was pretty sure that if anyone had tried to get at her breasts, she would have noticed, but she checked anyway, brushing her hand discreetly against the front of her bra, and got a leer from Naruto for her trouble. "... I have mine."
Naruto tapped his forehead protector. "Got mine too. I'm gonna have a circle branded on my forehead in the end, I swear."
"Plus their three, plus that Rock ninja's... Only two left," Sasuke commented as he threw one token each to his teammates. Sakura snatched hers up and turned away so that Naruto couldn't ogle as she slipped it in her bra. She'd forgotten Sasuke could, and she blushed, but at least the glance he snuck down her top was more discreet.
"Heh. We rule!" Naruto lifted a fist in victory, then slouched a little. "Still, I feel kind of evil, for ruining their chances like that. We shoulda targeted another team, one not from our village..."
"They deserved it for not knowing when to quit." Sasuke shrugged. "They would have been eliminated anyway. Just with more blood."
"Hey, you don't know that," Naruto replied halfheartedly.
Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Know what? If we end up with too many tokens, you're welcome to offer the surplus to random people."
"Except it will mean more enemies for the tournament," Sakura commented. Naruto and Sasuke gave her a look like she was missing the point.
"That's bad how?"
"That's supposed to be bad?"
They blinked at each other and gave each other glares. Sakura sighed heavily and allowed them to lead the way. Men.
Now that she was a little less angry, she did feel slightly bad for snatching the token bag out of Kigane's hand and declaring it payment for use of Naruto, and for trying to fool them again after they'd gone out of their way to save their teammate's lives. Well, Beni probably wouldn't have died, but she would have gotten an infection and spent a few more weeks recovering, at the very least. And maybe the Rock guy would have only beat Jin up instead of gutting him. And Sakura was tired, and cranky, and hungry except she was also feeling slightly sick again. And pregnant. She felt pregnant, too, not that she would have had a clue how to describe it, whether it was a physical sensation or a passing mood or purely in her head.
She lifted a hand to her belly, felt for the almost invisible curve there. "... Hey, guys..."
Sasuke and Naruto paused and turned to look at her, puzzled by her soft tone.
"For a girl, what do you think of Nadeshiko?"
END CHAPTER
Next.
no subject
no subject
Hmm, I read it again and it wasn't as bad as I feared. I'll just add a coupla adjectives or something...
no subject
no subject
<3 this. I'm a liiiittle confused about how the wire appeared, but then, ninjas. S'all i got.
no subject
Hey, they're spies, gotta have some sneaky moves. XD Sakura doesn't know how and when it happened either, so I can't really mention it.
no subject
*wibble*
Re: *wibble*
no subject
no subject
*petpets* maybe i'll try writing a summary before each post, but that could be spoilerific ... hmm. >_>
no subject
no subject
Four copper tokens chimed in Sasuke's hand as he strolled casually in the general direction of the lighthouse in the distance/ *snorts* LOL XDDD
WOW!!^O^ I must confess I wasn't so enthusiastic about team kunnoichi at first, but strangely, now I think the part with them was very successful -- leaving aside that it helped picture team7 under different angles!u.u
(Sorry about my denseness, but what exactly happened with Naruto and Jin in the end? Not sure to get it, did they have comfort sex?? O.O;)
no subject
They kind of took over, I didn't want them to hang around so long but the more i wrote and the more ideas I had. I hope they don't come off as sue-ish. ~_______~;;
(... XDD the choices were 1.jin was going for naruto's ass and naruto tells him no thanks, i'm flattered but not interested, or 2.jin was trying to steal naruto's token and just pretended he wanted to make out so he could get close enough to pick naruto's pocket, and then naruto would punch him in the face. XD;;; It's not as clear as it should be, i'll fix it later.)
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
the fact that sakura became sick when her chacra level lowered was great written. i like it that sasuke seems to be "more comfortable" with sakura. the little teasing and flirting is sweet!
no subject
... he's definitely never going to tell him anything about being a "man", it could go to Naruto's head. XDD
Thank you! ^___________^
no subject
Plus, hooray for Easily Misunderstood Situations not being understood. So many people take that sort of thing as an excuse for cheap angst...
no subject
D'aw, they'll have plenty of real reasons to angst it up in a chapter or two, I really don't need to make them doubt each other's commitment. And so many other internal issues to play with! >D
no subject
Nyarhggh one day, I'm going to leave you a gimungous comment on how amazing Teamwork really is.
no subject
Gimungous, eh? I look forward to it.
if only to figure out the true meaning of that shiny new word. XDno subject
(Anonymous) 2008-06-03 01:01 am (UTC)(link)In the post-time skip, she seems too spectacular in her healing abilities and it was too abrupt, so I really this Sakura who is not that amazing, but is gradually learning to be. And the attention to detail is wonderful, the elaboration on what she can and can not heal.
- Kitty.
no subject
I'm glad you like the healing thing. I kind of wish she could be suddenly more kickass, but it's not like I could justify it. Also, mmmm issues to play with. X3
no subject
I'm alittle confused about the tokens. Team 7 had 3 tokens. Sakura took 2 from Beni and Kigane right? Naruto took the rock ninja's token from Jin. That's 6 tokens. How did they get the 7th one? Did Naruto take one from Jin for saving him or did Sakura take it when you mention her taking Kigane's pouch after she tried to steal Sakura's coins with that thread?
no subject
XD they took all three tokens from team kunoichi, plus the one from the Rock nin. It was implied Sasuke or Sakura swiped their pouch. I'll see if i can make it clearer.
no subject
I just Sakura just threw out a name to hear what the boys think? It is good to see her coming to terms with the joys of impending motherhood. Sakura should enjoy her pregnancy.....it always goes better that way for both mother and baby
no subject
^___^
no subject
Heh. Sasuke’s kiss has totally thrown Sakura. . . . Oh, that other scene is in here. ^^ . . . . XD . . . . Have you ever read Ayashi no Ceres? There’s a character in there named Chidori, and Kigane reminds me a lot of her. ^^ . . . . Wow, love the immediate switch to “professional ninja-training” mode (when Sakura says, “perimeter check”). . . . I like Sakura’s anxiety, because she’s still an amateur. It must be very intimidating to do this sort of thing while you’re not sure of yourself. . . . Love all the medical details about what Sakura’s doing and Beni’s condition. . . . (*giggle*) “Cheater.” ^^ . . . . First Sasuke in Teamwork 1, now Beni in Teamwork 3. Cracked ribs seem to be a big issue. (Not surprising, really.) . . . . “ ‘Most of that is skin-deep,’ Sakura commented dispassionately . . .” Why dispassionately. . . . I like how Sakura talks to Beni, and how Beni is only half-listening. I can picture the scene as very quiet, except for the sounds of the treatment. . . .
Huh? Wait. (*rereads*) The paragraph, “The scent hit her nose [. . .] Human meat.” kinda confused me a little. I don’t understand the bit about the meat part. . . . And she threw up. Was it just really gross, or is it some side-effect of the pregnancy?. . . . Ah, okay. Now it makes sense. . . . Jeez, Kigane’s perceptive. Wow. . . . “She had absolutely zero interest in becoming friends with that team. Especially Kigane.” I can understand why. And it’s probably not going to happen. But I get the feeling that they’re going to have to deal with the team a lot anyway. ^^ Maybe Naruto’ll stay friends with them (or Sasuke’ll find something in common with one of them, though that’s doubtful). ^^ . . . . So Beni was the one who asked that question? (“Have you started thinking of names yet?”) (*giggle*) . . . . (*snicker*) “Sasuke twitched and retreated to a boulder a dozen steps away.” XD He’s abandoning Sakura. . . . Interesting bit about how Sakura forgot that it’s actually someone living and not just a product of nature. I guess stress and all the crazy events that went on between the team and that this pregnancy has caused has made her forget. . . . Heh. Love the little touch of Beni calling Sakura “Doc.” That’s cool. I like that. ^_^ . . . . I also love Beni’s dry attitude. ♥ . . . . Now that Sakura’s realized that this is a life she’s carrying, I wonder if she’s going to think about the risks she could cause the baby if she puts herself in a dangerous situation. . . . ^^ Sasuke’s such a grouch. ♥ . . . . For once, a girl who hasn’t been caught by Sasuke’s beauty-charm. And it’s ironic how it’s Kigane the flirt. =D . . . .To be continued. . . .
no subject
Jeez, Sakura, you don’t have to be nasty about how much it charges to help them. Yeah, I know it’s every ninja (team) for themselves, but at least try to keep an alliance. Oy. õ_õ . . . . I kinda hope Sasuke’ll call Sakura off. . . . Sakura’s bitchiness bothers me a lot more than Sasuke’s “RAWR, stay away”-ness in this fic. It’s kinda sad. She’s turning more and more into a shrew than anything. Her nice side is evaporating rapidly. I hardly ever hear her do something nice for Sasuke or Naruto anymore, even. I mean, Sasuke seems easier to deal with than Sakura now. She’s worse than Tsunade now. . . . Oh, thank God. Naruto’s coming back. . . . Okay, about the part where Sasuke pulls off a gray hair and Naruto cringes . . . I’m glad they didn’t take it out on him, because there is such a thing as abuse of a character (and he seems to be getting a lot of it lately in this fic – I mean, being blamed for the lesbian thing, for meeting Team Kunoichi on the boat, etc.) and I’m thinking that it’s almost leading to overdone. So I’m glad he got a break this time. I like how Sakura rounds on the kunoichi instead, and I kinda like her threat to Beni (“I can break it again”), even though it was a little too nasty. I mean, I like alpha-bitches, but if they give some leeway. Sakura hasn’t seemed to be giving much lately. . . . (*snicker*) Beni’s words: “I don’t date guys who are smaller than me.” . . . . Huh? What’s Sasuke. . . ? OH! Hahah! Nice one, Kigane! I approve! ^_^
Cool your jets, Sakura. And yeah, you should feel bad for making Naruto scared like that. He really doesn’t deserve that kind of mistreatment. . . . “Naruto tapped his forehead protector.” Might want to check it anyway, just in case, Naruto. It could be something replaced, you know. . . . (*snicker*) Sasuke ogles too. Love how he slowly joins the human race. ^_^ ♥ . . . . Love how the guys don’t mind having more competition. That’s so them. ^^ . . . . Interesting ending! I like how she just thinks of a name like that! That’s a pretty name, too. I wonder what it means.
OVERALL, I liked it, though the mood seemed a little too tense to me. I just hope that Sakura will cool her jets sometime in the near future. I like her formidable, and I like her as an alpha-bitch, but not so much as a shrew (although, sadly, she’s sort of become one in the manga anyway, *sigh* -_-).
no subject
You could probably write a drabble discussing/arguing over baby names...
^^
a couple of grammatical things
"maybe keeping on applying a salve that made your medic throw up" might read more easily as "maybe continuing to apply a salve that made your medic throw up"
and here "Then, as he lifted his prize in the air, she wondered how she had inherited one of Jin's hair." I think it should be "
Then, as he lifted his prize in the air, she wondered how she had inherited one of Jin's hairS." This one is difficult because of the singular and plural for hair is the same; but you talk about a strand of hair or the hairs on one's head, or a head of hair. I'm not sure quite why english does that . . .
no subject
I really enjoyed Sakura's handling of the healing situation, and the dialogue that went along with it. She had every right to take the tokens, I think... and it was good of her to help. I do like how the chapter ended with team 7 falling back into place comfortably together again. I wish they had more cuddle time, but it -is- the Chuunin exam.
Nadeshiko... that brings me back to Card Captor Sakura and the joke that me and my friends had that the mom, Nadeshiko, "died of death", since her death was never explained. Anyway... Nadeshiko is a pretty name! Yay flower names.
~Sara