[pre-pain invasion]
The cicada crawled into the bamboo lamp and now its fragile wings created grotesque shadows on the walls of the room. Asuma opened the window, inhaling the smell of approaching rain and distant forest fire. Red flowers bloomed on the windowsill; oddly specific, he wondered what sort are they. He must have seen them near ancient temple before.
"It's a poppy," Kurenai said; it was as if she were reading his mind. Asuma hoped that the part of his brain puzzled by the choice of ring would remain private. And how was he supposed to figure out the size of her finger? Definitely silver, but will she like the engraving?
“Do you like the view?” Asuma blurted out, trying to dispel his reverie. The upcoming mission made him nervous for some unexplainable reason and he would be damned if he showed it to Kurenai. He was simply getting old and nervous at the prospect of family life.
“Usually I’m not a big fan, but right now I'm enjoying the way your student turns that specific shade of pink in front of Sakura. It matches her hair”, it snaps him back to reality completely, and Asuma follows Kurenai’s gaze down the road. His eyebrows risk to meet his hairline as he watches Shikamaru, of all people, having a hard time explaining something to the Hokage’s apprentice, the bouquet in his hands. He can’t recall boy giving so much effort to pretty much anything, even on the missions where his life was at stake.
“C’mon”, Kurenai giggled and takes his hand. "I feel like we’re intruding", on that Asuma nods turning from the image of kissing teenagers.
“I wish I was brave enough to approach you back then, in academy”, he admits, embraced but her strong, yet tender hands.
“Look at me”, Kurenai asks, now facing him; her fingertips caressing toned skin. “I’m just grateful that you was always there in my life. Let’s keep going like that, okay?”
“Always”, Asuma breathed in her lips, - that was a good promise.
Sakura wakes up with stomach pain and sees blood on the light-colored sheets - she curses the irregularity of her period and is about to change her underwear when a Nara messenger nearly breaks her window. Ten minutes later, she tries to convince herself that the bad feeling in her guts is just pain, but no matter how much she denies it, it's something much more. She already sees Yoshino's figure on the doorstep near Shikamaru's room when she realizes it.
Light are on, although he must be on mission for another couple of days. Has Team Ten returned earlier? But Shikamaru didn’t came to see her, and Sakura, remembering how reluctant they were in the prospect to be apart for another week, highly doubted he just ignored her.
Something was terribly wrong, it clicked with trembling in Yoshino’s voice.
“Asuma is dead”, she states, eyes full of concern. “I’m afraid Shikamaru is about to do something reckless”.
With nod Sakura slips from engawa, squeezing Yoshino’s shoulder as she passes by in reassurance.
The room is pitch black and only moonlight allows her to recognize Shikamaru laying on the floor, amidst chess peaces, torn books and mission gear.
It looks like a crime scene, Sakura notes, although everyone is breathing. She inhales, carefully assessing her surroundings, Shikamaru exhales with violent sobs.
What if Tsunade died? Or Kakashi? But muffled voice in the back of her head reminds Sakura that no one stuck with her that long, no one saw more than a resourceful investment for the village. (“Are we making it about ourselves?” - inner grinned).
She can’t recall when Shikamaru stops crying, - Sakura ashamed to admit that passed out a couple of times, laying on firm wood with her hands around him, as if they were floating underwater, unable to neither swim nor sink. Nara becomes so quiet she has to use chakra, check his vitals.
“There were two of them. S-rank. I couldn’t… they got away”, - in moonlight she could have read what he is saying by lips. Maybe she did, - cause how those bitten, cracked lips can form something other than cry? Either way Sakura gets it.
“We gonna track them down. And kill if you wish so. Shikamaru, I’m gonna help you do that. Promise.”
Before that, he stared into some kind of past void, though her. Now he meets her gaze, strangely defensive.
“There is huge possibility the organization they are in is connected with Uchiha. Maybe both”.
Sakura lets her hand wipe some tears, caressing his jawline.
“Only justice will bring you peace. And for that, I do not care how much or whose blood I will have to spill”. Only after he nodded, as if giving permission, Sakura put him into sleep.
They violate approximately forty-five Konoha’s rules by inappropriately using their access to Hokage’s archives, buying some supplies from black market and leaving the village in dark of the night, putting behind a paper with lame excuse.
When they cover first twelve miles North-West, Shikamaru makes a sign for her to stop.
“You still can return in time for your morning shift, ya know?”, he offers. She never seen him smile since that night, but his eyes soften with warm understanding when he looks at her.
“We decided”, Sakura is not as angry as she could have been in given circumstances. He feels guilty, and she grateful that he still shows his true side.
“Let’s keep moving before we have ANBU squadron up our asses”.
So they do.
Kakuzu and Hidan are just where intel told they would be. As soon as Shikamaru pins them down with chakra-infused blades, Sakura lets him say his revenge lines and than wastes no time, appearing from behind Kakuzu and piercing though his chest. Her hand goes though his body as if it wasn’t flesh, but some sort gum.
Shikamaru and Hidan in the middle of piss fight about being toughest guy on the clearing, when, after sending wave of medical chakra thought her victim’s body, Sakura realises why Kakuzu isn’t yet collapsed.
“Shik, he’s—“, she never gets the chance to finish, as a fucking separately functioning from body hand, that is not restricted by neither fading shadow nor any normal anatomy rules that apply to all mortals, bursts though ground and tears its way though her side.
Shikamaru quickly reacts by using what is left oh his control to smash Hidan into perfectly-doing-with-hole-in-the-heart Kakuzu, while Sakura takes a chance to climb tree branch and put a hand to heal her side. She leaves her torn kidney inside, cause it’s no place to operate it now, but has to take peaces of her spleen out, as well as some flesh.
She finishes patching herself up just in time to witness four mixes of masked black yarn and demon appear from Kakuzu’s body. No one mentioned this in the intel.
Probably, because nobody survived to tell about it, her mind usefully supplies.
“Sakura, the one you pierced collapsed”, Shikamaru yells, trying not to be butchered with scythe.
“Stick to the plan”, she reminds him, just before barely escaping flame from the mouth of the “helldoll”. Shikamaru gives her a sign, - he managed to take Kakuzu’s blood, so at least this part went well.
“I will have your heart to replace the one you ruined, Pinky”, Kakuzu promises.
Sakura also promised. Before they went to this revenge-dead-sensei mission, Shikamaru made her vow that in case shit went down in the unexpected way or there would be high chance for her to die, she would flee.
Good thing then that they are both liars.
She manages to break one more mask, but Kakuzu uses the second it takes to jump her from behind, - she fells tendrils pierce her back, permeating her skin, searching for the more vital body parts to injure. Falling to the ground, she sends chakra into her spine and crawls, hoping that this turtle-style attempt will allow her to win some time, just a second to catch her breath.
Kakuzu is way faster, and even without two of his puppets he keeps pushing, merciless and calculating. Sakura doesn’t have to bite her hand to make a summon, - blood is everywhere and she numbly feels parts of the tissue in it.
The slug appears just in time to swallow her body, burning the rest of black tendrils from her back and starting to heal, but Kakuzu easily slashes through it. Sakura hears explosion and smiles, - for once, she wasn’t useless.
Dodging more tendrils, she sees opportunity to smash one more mask, but it feels almost good to be true so instead, Sakura forms a scalpels on each finger and tears into the Kakuzu’s main body, aiming for his eyes, desperately trying to tear what mock of nervous system and brain he has. Dolls must be controlled from somewhere, so she pushes parts of his stitched checks and eye sockets apart, cracking the mutated bones like a crazy cat.
It almost seems like a fever dream, because why isn’t he reacting, why she can hear such a familiar voice calling her name? Kakuzu sends her flying, but not before shattering her ribs, burring his excuse for a hand inside. Where is Shikamaru?
Kakuzu doesn’t fulfils his promise as well, because her pathetic heart stays beating in her torn rib cage, while Kakuzu finally falls down.
Sakura smiles, - in the end it all worked out. Shika managed to outsmart Hidan, Asuma was revenged. Kakuzu went down.
You don’t say Q-word in the hospital. The same way, you also do not announce mission “easy” until it is officially over and your ass is on sofa, safe home.
So when rookie in his ANBU squadron called their elimination task “easiest peace of take to chew” two hours from Konoha gates, Kakashi needed all his willpower not to make his new team member chew his fucking ear instead. The rest also shared glances, but continued their pace.
That’s until Tsunade’s slug appeared on the branch next to Kakashi.
“Sakura and Shikamaru left the village, presumably to pursue Akatsuki members that killed Asuma. Apply highest emergency protocol. Priority is to retrieve Sakura and Shikamaru. Do not engage in combat with enemy shinobi if possible. Here is something for your ninken to track”, with that, slug summon exploded into the cloud.
Kakashi swallowed bile that crawled up his throat, feeling that, despite better judgment, Team 7’s curse haven’t skipped on Sakura.
It was kind of mornings you remember only when you’re little, cradled in the bed and watch you parents do all the grown-ups staff. It smells like recently washed linen with crumbles from the evening treat and feeling of the absolute security you get from your favorite blanket.
Sakura felt it on her fingertips, but wasn’t able to quite catch it, as her senses keep slipping though water body around her.
A hand anchored her, pulling up and digging into flesh, - pain found her way back.
Sakura opened her eyes to healing chakra puzzling on her side. Why she could barely inhale any air? Darkness pulled her one more time.
Next time she regained consciousness, someone caressed her hair. Her head rested on something soft. Opening her eyes seemed like a such a drug, so Sakura lifted a hand, longing for a touch that didn’t mean to harm her. Fight with Kakuzu seemed a lifetime ago.
Porcelain mask, but right to the rim soft hair started. Absentmindedly, Sakura pulled slightly, - short strands, who do they belong to? They must have given her something, because urge to giggle was almost irresistible.
Kakashi, - never the sensei truly, - has taken off the mask.
Sakura on his knees smiled; it is miracle that with such amount of medicine in her system she is able to be awake at all.
Camp around them was getting ready for the night. It was seven hours since Pakkun led them into ruins, that remotely resembled clearing and forest. Nara, had his stupid horns barely scratched, while Sakura looked like something that would haunt his sleep for a quite some time. Kakashi had to use all of his resolve not to turn Nara into rag doll and tell Shikaku that’s was how they found him.
Instead, he commanded Nara to be chained, leftovers of his chakra sealed, - that’s how he will be until Hokage decides his fate. After that, Kakashi just had to wait while Fox patched Sakura up as much as possible. She would need intense care and Tsunade for sure, but she will survive the night and then will be able to live thought transportation back to village.
“Our intel underestimated Kakuzu’s ability. Neither he used it when. . . when he helped Hidan with Asuma. If only. . .” Kakashi’s head snapped to the Shikamaru, sitting with two ANBU on his sides.
“If? If what? If you used the thing inside your skull? Have you thought what would happen if both of you died? About Yoshino? Or Sakura’s parents?”, Kakashi felt stares from his team, but continued nonetheless: “It was self-centric, reckless, egoistic act on your behalf, that almost got my student killed”. The Sheep actually had audacity to whistle.
“How could you refer to her like that when you abandoned her before Sasuke did? I may be punished for deflecting from Konoha, and I will accept that, but you neglected your student just as much”, Shikamaru is aware of the deadly aura emerging from Kakashi, but honestly he’s to done with it all to care about someone’s survivor gilt issues. “I did just what it takes to avenge my Sensei. True one. And I really sorry that Sakura got hurt helping me. . .»
"Hey, keep it shut, kid”, the ANBU with the sheep mask broke the argument, - Kami knows they all had enough on their plates already. Shikamaru gave him a quizzing look, but then turned back to the fire.
Genma fought an urge to touch a blade with a tip of his tongue, - hardly possible with a mask still on. He would never confess that to Kakashi, but Shikamaru’s intention made a sense. Considering he was what? Sixteen - seventeen years old?* And it’s not like Genma’s heart also hadn’t pained for Asuma. And Kurenai. . . He was too much of a coward to offer any condolences at the funeral procession, so he just stayed near when she was crying her soul out. Occasionally, he would snuck up in her apartment to leave some homemade food. Sometimes he would also put himself next seat in that smoothie bar Kurenai and her Hyuuga student liked to visit. He wondered why him, or Kakashi, never even considered taking revenge.
Probably because it’s extremely unreasonable, - to leave your village without orders in such difficult times. Risk yourself, with information about Konoha in your head, to be captured by the organization that suspected to hunt tailed beasts and not to mention that facing two immortal S-ranks. Or, Genma continued, it might be that with years of loss and trauma their shinobi generation endured, they had a nerve to realize that revenge itself does nothing useful.
“Hey, Sheep, whatcha brooding over?”, Fox asked, adding dried meat to the stew he was making.
“How ladies gonna fight over me tomorrow night!”, Genma replied cheerfully. “This time I’m gonna let blonde win”.
“No shit!”, Pinky actually giggled, before turning to the other side and going back to her heavily sedated sleep under Kakashi’s close observation.
Genma smiles and looks up at Kakashi.
Wait, does Hatake always had his non-sharingan eye twitching?
It wasn’t showing to anyone but her, but yet she could feel so many little changes, - in her body, preferences and even the way she perceives the world. Hell, what’s gonna happen when the little one will be actually born?
Kurenai let corners of her lips go upwards a little and touched her belly under pretense of straightening the blouse.
Hinata was still regaining her normal skin colour after the story Genma told them. Now, he was waving to someone he spotted in the other part of the bar. Smoothie bar. For the next nine months those would be the only ones Kurenai would attend.
Shikamaru neared their table hand in hand with Sakura, - poor girl still had bandages all over her, but other than that looked vivid.
“Do not let this old man interrupt your date”, Kurenai elbowed Genma, who now looked like a beaten puppy now.
“We are both off, so I was showing him some spots with healthy food”, Sakura sat next to Hinata on the small booth. Two persons hardly could feet it, so Shikamaru after muttering something starting with a “troublesome”, just placed himself on the Sakura’s lap.
Now, Kurenai cracked a proper smile. Hinata’s cheeks went from the being pink to red shaded again.
“And also so happens that this place just around the corner from our new flat”, Nara added, scratching the back of his head.
“Are you kidding? I also live next building!”, Genma, exited, almost pushed the table from them. Sakura stopped its advance, barely lifting a finger. “Just promise put the sound seals for the times you get to freaky, okay?”, he added, now more serious.
Hinata slides off the booth, fainted.