Arc One: Seed

❀

With every few hours they walked, Sakura all but demanded frequent breaks so she could monitor Kiaria’s health. The girl sat happily munching on her lunch, once again wearing Sakura’s outer grey yukata robe as the mid day chill had begun to rustle their hair and pinken their cheeks, while Sakura held the girls free hand in her glowing palm.

Kiaria hummed happily as Sakura brought her free hand under the girl's fringe to press gently on her forehead, a steady soothing sensation of healing chakra emanating from the touch.

Sakura was quiet for a moment before drawing her hand away, “your body is starting to right itself and soon you’ll be able to keep down meals instead of frequent snacks.” Kiaria hummed her thanks as she swallowed her food.

Kangae was seated happily in the girl's lap as he snacked on the assorted nuts in her open palm. Meanwhile Tobi had eaten his lunch out of sight, despite Kiaria mirroring Sakura’s curiosity at what he looked like, and was busying himself with a metal thread from his weapons pouch he had looped onto his fingers and was attempting to make shapes with.

Sakura, now satisfied with her medical analysis of her young patient, sat back and began eating her own lunch which consisted of a take out bento box Tobi procured from his bags of food from Overpass.

Kiaria dabbed her mouth with a handkerchief embroidered with flowers from her bag before delicately stroking Kangae’s head as he continued to eat unphased. She wasted no time after that, immediately focusing her attention on her and Sakura’s previous conversation before the medic had demanded a lunch break and check up.

“So taijutsu is the art of hand to hand combat, genjutsu is using one's chakra to influence an illusion on an opponent, and ninjutsu is the umbrella term for abilities influenced by chakra that are not genjutsus. Correct?”

Sakura nodded and swallowed her mouthful of rice, “correct, those are the basic three jutsu every shinobi must learn. There are other sub-jutsu’s people can learn like Bukijutsu which also an umbrella term for jutsu pertaining to the use of weaponry like Kenjutsu which is techniques that use swords or shurikenjutsu which is techniques using concealed hand held weapons like kunai, shuriken, senbon, or others. There’s also fuinjutsu which is the art of sealing, nintaijutsu which is the art of using ninjutsu to influence and boost one's taijutsu abilities, and medical ninjutsu as you’ve seen me use.”

“Which is using one's chakra to influence healing!” she piqued up, ever the excited student.

“Correct again!” Sakura smiled before taking another mouthful of her lunch. 

Kiaria practically vibrated in place upon receiving praise, her energy shook her like a flower in the wind and her wide smile bloomed colour to her cheeks. “This is so fascinating! I had no idea there was so much to a shinobi’s curriculum, to think these kinds of jutsu are all at an ordinary person's disposal should they only learn how to do them!”

Sakura giggled, “yep, with applied focus and an eagerness to learn, there’s many things you can learn.”

“Is there somewhere to start?” Kiaria beamed, leaning close from her seat at Sakura’s side. She caught herself and pulled a polite distance away. “Not that I’m under the impression that I would be able to do the things you’ve said immediately. But is there something I’d be able to try?”

Sakura closed her empty bento box and placed it to the side of the log they were perched on, “well before anything else it’s important to know one’s chakra nature.” She shifted to sit facing Kiaria more and the young girl mirrored the motion. Kangae shuffled on her lap to better eat from the girl's hand unhindered and unbothered by the conversation happening around him.

“Question, what possesses chakra?”

“All living beings possess chakra, those being people, animals and even nature.” Kiaria’s voice was clear and confident.

“Correct. What is the difference between the chakra of living beings and nature?”

“People and even animals may come to utilise their own chakra, whereas nature -lacking sentience or a consciousness- is unable to and the energy of chakra in nature can be readily manipulated by an individual with the correct capabilities.” The girl nodded along to her own words as if she were reading them in her mind and confirming them in her speech.

“Correct again. Last question, what are the five basic chakra natures?”

Kiaria eagerly jumped in place, delighted at the information in the answer she was about to convey. “The five basic chakra natures are the foundation for all elemental ninjutsu and they are so integral to the shinobi lifestyle that the five great shinobi countries are named after one of them. Them being Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Lighting.”

“Very good!” Sakura praised and Kiaria grinned, “you’re correct again and we’re going to look closer at these chakra natures. We’ve established that all people possess chakra and something more to know is that each person’s chakra naturally has an affinity for one of the five natures.”

Kiaria nodded as Sakura continued, “in some cases their nature is genetic or common if they’re from a clan that has a focus on a jutsu of a certain element. In other cases a person's affinity can be related to the kind of personality they have.”

Kiaria eagerly and wordlessly raised her hand, Sakura nodded, she dropped her hand and asked. “Is it possible to change one's chakra nature?”

“Yes. The process of nature transformation is an advanced form of chakra control where one modifies and moulds their chakra to another nature. In extremely skilled shinobi they may even combine chakra natures to wield sub natures but that’s incredibly advanced and we don’t need to go into it right now.” Sakura waved a dismissive hand before continuing

“It’s important for every shinobi to know their natural affinity as they’ll have an easier time mastering jutsu of that chakra nature.”

“ -Yeah! Like this!” A small ball of fire the size of a human head was suddenly blown between them. Its small but powerful size illuminated their faces and its heat was threatening enough that both Sakura and Kiaria jumped back. The younger girl shrieking and skittering back, an unfortunate consequence was the last of the grains in her hand scattering to the grassy floor and Kangae -who had also been taken by surprise- tumbling to the ground.

“Tobi!” Sakura yelled angrily. Said man was crouched behind the girls and cluelessly itched the side of his mask with a finger.

“I was just showing my chakra nature affinity…” He muttered.

“By scaring Kiaria!?” Sakura scolded while pulling said girl by the hand back to her sitting position.

Tobi shrugged sheepishly, “m’sorry…” he said.

Recovered and finished catching her breath, Kiaria raised a finger to point at the dejected man sitting crouched behind the two. “So Tobi-san has a fire nature chakra affinity, what affinity do you have Sakura?”

Sakura smiled and opened her mouth to speak, only to freeze as she found she hadn’t the words to say. Her eyebrows drew slowly down and the corners of her mouth twitched as she struggled to answer what fundamentally was a simple question. What chakra nature affinity was she? Surely she would have found out when she was training in school? Her battle skills came to her in the heat of the moment, her medical knowledge was as fundamental to her as breathing and blinking were, but literal answers eluded her grasp. 

She sat silently struggling but thankfully she was spared the humiliation of admitting that she didn’t know by her teammate.

Tobi’s body lit up with the recognisable expressiveness that came when he had an idea. “Tobi knows how to help!” He reached into his sleeve and ruffled around for a moment before pulling out a small stack of squared paper wrapped together tightly by a thread.

“Tada! Why don’t you find out your chakra type!”

Sakura shook her frustrated thoughts away as she felt gratitude take over. This was perfect and eased the feeling of helplessness that nestled a home in her gut when faced with obvious questions she lacked answers to. The relief that she had a way to find the answer to a simple question about herself was a warm feeling she hoped to chase when confronting the other gaps in her memory.

“That’s actually a great idea Tobi,” she took the offered paper and pulled out two slips before handing the stack back.

She faced the young girl again now with more confidence that even though she couldn’t answer the girl's question, she would obtain that answer for her, and herself. She held up the slips in two fingers and began to explain.

“This is chakra paper, it’s made from specific trees cultivated by chakra and will react to a person's chakra. The reaction that the paper has will indicate a person's chakra nature affinity.”

Sakura held out one slip to Kiaria who carefully took the paper in the gentle grip of her forefingers and thumbs. She held it like she was both afraid it would fly away but also scared it would shatter in her grip. 

“This will be an excellent starting place as you’ll need to focus your chakra towards the paper and it will react to even the slightest hint of chakra. The various reactions the paper could have are-” she held up a finger with each one she explained “-catching on fire and turning to ash means a fire affinity. Becoming damp means a water affinity. Splitting in half means a wind affinity. Turning to dirt and crumbling away means an earth affinity. Finally, wrinkling means a lightning affinity.”

Sakura then placed the paper in the centre of her palm and shuffled a little closer to Kiaria whose attention zeroed into her demonstration. “What I’m going to do is feel the flow of energy in my body. I want to focus on where the paper is in my hand and channel the flow to that specific point. And then…”

Both Sakura and Kiaria watched with wide fascinated eyes as the chakra paper cupped in Sakura’s palm began to have a wet patch that formed in the centre.

Soon the wetness spread to each corner, forcing the paper to curl over her hand as the weight pulled it down. Kiaria breathed out a mystified breath and Sakura found herself muttering in reverence, “water… I have a water nature chakra affinity…”

Tobi oo-ed and clapped happily. This broke Sakura from her thoughts and she offered a smile to Kiaria. “See? Even for someone who has never felt for their chakra before, it’ll only take a little for an answer. Don’t despair if it takes a bit of time though. Remember what’s not important is succeeding on the first try but that you keep trying.”

Kiaria nodded, she looked down at the paper between a conflict of excitement and hesitance. Her excitement won over as she mirrored Sakura’s example, placing the paper flat in her hand, and stared intently at it.

Sakura and Tobi leaned ever so closer and watched. Sakura held her breath as the seconds ticked by.

A minute must have passed with still nothing happening before Tobi’s voice popped the bubble of silence. “You know you can start now, right?”

“Tobi!” Sakura smacked the man's arm.

“What? Did she start? Is she trying?” Tobi rubbed his arm where she had struck. Kiaria furrowed her brows in an effort to conceal the frustration she was feeling, her lips tightened to a thin line and her fingers tensed around the paper.

“Of course she’s trying, she’s never done this before so shut up and let her focus!” 

Tobi crossed his arms and rolled his head atop his shoulders but he shut up as he was asked and the two returned to look at the paper in the girl's open palm. Her hand shook with how tense her fingers were held.

“Ease up there, chakra isn’t a muscle you tense, it’s an energy you feel.” Sakura said softly and Kiaria obliged by dropping her tense shoulders and letting out a breath. She made a conscious effort to focus on her energy but as someone who had only never known of it before, she was clearly struggling.

“Are you sure she’s trying? ‘Cause nothing’s happening.”

“Shut up!” Sakura punched the mouthy man in the arm that sent him tumbling to the grassy floor.

“But nothing’s happening! It’s not Tobi’s fault!” He complained loudly. Sakura continued to scold the man, verbally lashing at him as he rolled on the ground whilst Kiaria’s brows knit with barely concealed frustration.

The girl bit her lip before her quiet admittance snapped Sakura from her telling off her insensitive teammate. “I… I’m trying but…” Her words trailed off quieter and quieter.

Kangae who had finished his snack finally took notice of what his companions had been getting up to, took the opportunity to flutter up and land on Kiaria’s shoulder. The girl startled a little in surprise but easily accustomed to the bird's weight.

“What’s wrong?” He cocked his head as he studied the paper.

“I’m trying to focus my chakra but the paper isn’t reacting at all…” She said. Sakura returned to her side and gently rubbed her upper arm in support.

“It’s okay, this is your first attempt to feel your chakra. Shinobi learn these things very young so it becomes as natural as walking. Don’t feel ashamed that it’s taking you a little to learn.” Kiaria nodded, her eyes flickering between Sakura’s eyes and the paper.

“Why don’t we continue our journey and you hold onto that? Then you can keep trying as we go.” Sakura encouraged. Kiaria stared intently back at the paper and Kangae broke through her worry with his happy chirping.

“Yeah! I wasn’t great at genjutsus for a while even with Kioku training me personally. But now I can go on missions! You’re probably like me!” He flapped happily, “it might be a bit hard at first but you’ll get there if you keep trying!”

Sakura briefly wondered who Kioku was but chose to bite her tongue for now.

Kiaria’s smile was soft as she allowed Sakura and Kangae’s words to comfort her. Sakura felt a bubble of warmth grow in her chest upon seeing Kiaria nod in agreement.

Tobi’s shrill voice called happily from his place sprawled on the floor after Sakura had scolded him, “yeah! You’re not dumb! You’re just on the same skill level as a bird!”

The sound of Sakura’s shoe making a hard and speedy BAM! against Tobi’s head made a satisfying echo throughout the forest.

❀

The group had chosen to run for a short while to shave off some time on their journey, Sakura carrying Kiaria on her back - much to a sad Tobi’s dejection- and the girl was thrilled as they flew through the air.

They came to a stop when Sakura demanded her patient needed another snack break and Kiaria took the time after finishing her food and once Sakura had held her hand for another check of her health to try yet again with the chakra paper.

Sakura concluded the girl to be in better health, however her vitamins still were lower than what they should be but with nothing to be done about that, they resumed walking with Kiaria’s feet back on the ground.

Sakura had also sent Kangae on a short mission to scout the nearby area and find where Soil Town was located. Sakura held her hopes close that a short visit to that village would aid in her memory recovery. Seeing how she didn’t even remember her own chakra nature there must be a plethora of things important to her that she forgot. It was nothing short of a miracle that she managed to remember Konan.

Recalling her chakra nature, having a water affinity surely meant she knew some water type ninjutsu. She looked to her hands as the group walked through the shade of the trees, ‘I wonder what jutsu I’ve forgotten…’

Her contemplation was interrupted by a small but exhausted exhalation of air at her side. Sakura snapped her attention to the sound and saw Kiaria gasping for breath as she held the chakra paper tightly pressed between her hands in a praying position. The girl held her breath and a whine escaped her thinly pressed lips as she looked to be trying to flatten the paper in her hands.

“Not so tense,” Sakura said and Kiaria gasped as she ran out of breath, “there’s no need to put that much force on the paper.”

“But…” she said between her tired pants, “But I tried not forcing it… and nothing happened… I’m just trying harder… like you said…” Sakura rubbed her back as she gradually got her breathing back under control.

“It’s okay, let me explain. Think of it like-” She was interrupted by Kangae soaring through the trees and coming to a flutter right in front of her, waving Sakura’s hat tassels around her face.

“Sakura! I did it, I found Soil Town!” He chirped happily and landed on Sakura’s outstretched arm.

“That's great, Kangae! Was there anyone there?” 

He shook his head, “nope! Completely abandoned, and pretty wrecked too from what I could see. Are you sure you wanna stop there?” 

Sakura nodded once, “I do. How far away was it?”

“Not far at all, it’s only like a half hour north east if you run with your human legs like I fly.” He rubbed his beak with a wing.

Sakura turned to Kiaria at her side, “would it be alright with you if we made a short detour? I promise it won’t take long.”

Kiaria pulled out a book from her bag and she placed the chakra paper between the pages before closing it. A smart move to keep the paper flat and not give her false hope that any crease or tear or crinkle was a product of her efforts and not an accident. “Not at all.” She smiled.

“Yeah! And this time you can ride on Tobi’s back so you can get back that energy you wasted trying to squish the paper!” Tobi dropped to his knees and eagerly waited for his passenger.

Kiaria’s expression resembled that of someone who had tripped and stumbled in front of their school rival, a furrowed brow to match the downturned lips and brought to horrible life by the deep reddening of her cheeks.

Sakura spared Kiaria the chance to retort by dropping down herself and allowing the girl safe passage on her back.

“Come on, Tobi, let’s go. Lead the way Kangae.” The raven flapped in the air and happily took off with Sakura hot on his trail, leaving a momentarily dejected Tobi to call out, “was it something Tobi said?!” before catching up.

They sped through the trees, following the raven as he led them with an unshakable confidence he would no doubt boast about once they arrived. Kiaria was quiet on Sakura’s back. They arrived quickly.

It was clearly the remains of a poor village. Many wooden homes built for shelter from the elements without regard for their aesthetic stood in mismatched places as though the random places a weed would sprout is where one built a home and the streets were where the dirt was flat enough to not trip a person as they rounded the buildings.

Though it was hard to ascertain much else of the lives the villagers lived in such a village aside from the absence of people but rather due to how near every house looked to be forced to stand slouched at an angle. All buildings leant on their side pointed away from the direction of the village hidden in the Rain. ‘That fist rain the food vendor talked about… this looks like the place was hit with a typhoon…’

Sakura let Kiaria down and Tobi soon came to a screeching halt at their side. He held up a hand to shield his sight from the sun and let out a long whistle. “And Tobi thought Mud Town was bad.” 

Kangae came to land on Kiaria’s shoulder and the girl was happy to accommodate the bird. “Yup! I can tell why nobody’s here, this place is a mess.” He said.

“Sakura?” Kiaria carefully took her hand and said girl was pulled from the daze she hadn’t noticed she’d fallen under.

Upon arriving in Soil Town and seeing the wooden structures people had lived in, the pathways people had walked in, and the overall left over shattered, creaking, and crushed signs of a village that was once lived in… Sakura found she felt nothing.

Sakura mentally shook her head. No, that wasn’t quite right. She felt sad that this simple village was in tatters, sad for the many people that lost their lives in just a tragic force of nature, and sad that it looked like there wasn’t much for the said relief efforts to salvage bar tearing the village down and either building a new one or letting nature finish reclaiming what she had demolished.

But the sadness Sakura felt… It was for the loss but it didn’t feel like a personal loss.

None of the homes looked like ones she’d been in before, none of the streets she’d walked before, and none of the lives she’d lived with before. She felt sad for the death of the villagers and the soon to be death of what was left of the village. But she felt nothing connecting herself to this place except that.

Once she’d come to the sad conclusion that she felt no connection to Soil Town, it left her feeling empty. That hope that this village would alight her memories and bring clarity to her mind had been snuffed upon arriving.

Seeing that Soil Town held no answers for her and there was nothing she could do about that, Sakura shook her own despondence off as best she could and gave Kiaria’s hand a comforting squeeze in thanks.

“We may as well have a look. Are you hungry at all?” Sakura asked.

Kiaria giggles, “I only just ate, I couldn’t possibly stomach much more.” She swung their hands between them as the group began walking through the remains of Soil Town.

The dirt of the pathway under their feet was more solid than it appeared at first glance. Sakura recalled the food vendor mentioning the rain had hit so hard that the relief efforts were said to have found a limestone foundation under the village. That would give them more incentive to simply tear the village down and harvest the limestone for buildings and such.

Tobi must have come to a similar conclusion as he stomped hard on the ground to confirm the stone and said, “welp, guess this place is as good as gone. Oh! Maybe there’s some stuff we can have!”

Sakura huffed, “Tobi we’re not going to just take things from these houses, that’s so disrespectful to the dead.”

He shrugged, “eh, it’s not like they’re gonna use it.” He took off ahead to look closer at the houses and Sakura sighed.

Kangae chose to contribute to the conversation with an excited, “do you think we’ll find anything for me?”

Kiaria seemed to share Sakura’s distaste with Tobi’s logic and chose a diplomatic answer to keep the bird happy whilst not abandoning their morals. “Well we might find some food? Realistically any food left behind would rot and go to waste so there’s not much harm in having that? Granted that we pay our respects first.”

Sakura nodded, “I can’t argue with that.”

Kangae twittered happily in response and the two girls began a closer look at the houses they passed. Minutes passed and they didn’t find much, curiously the bases of the wooden houses seemed like they had begun to erode away but it stopped at ankle length, as though the rain that hit either held an acidic quality or hit so hard the wood was close to falling to pieces.

Kangae and Kiaria spoke happily to each other, with Kangae presenting a fruit or vegetable dangling from his beak which Kiaria took and would examine if it was safe for him to eat. Sakura kept the two in her line of sight by the edge of a house as she stood close by, they had reached what must have been the side of the village where a large portion of the farming had to have been done.

There stood a large fence nearly entirely knocked over one side and completely knocked over at the side closest to the distant village in the Rain. It told the story that the flood completely swept through and utterly destroyed what they had been farming. Fruit trees ripped from their roots and left on their sides, thin wooden structures to guide the fruit and veg were so mixed into the soil below they were nothing more than part of the ground, and any semblance of fruit, veg, or herb was torn and enveloped so greatly with the earth that you could pass the remains of a tomato sprout and mistake it as just another weed.

Sakura carefully stepped through the demolished farmland with eyes looking for anything recoverable. Kiaria voiced close to the gate entrance, “Sakura! I think we’ve found something salvageable!”

She turned and saw Kiaria crouched by a large long wooden grate that had been knocked over with its lid open and contents strewn across the dirt and soil mixture the ground had become.

“I think birds and animals rummaged around inside because it looks to be a food storage container but all that’s left are these unopened bags… there probably is a lot buried in the dirt though as well.”

She held up a small pouch only big enough to carry in the palm of one's hand, sealed with a string at the top. Sakura came to a crouch by the girl's side and she deposited the pouch in the medics' open palm. The sound of shuffling coming from inside the crate told Sakura where Kangae had gone, evidently he seemed to be on the hunt for any leftover food.

Sakura opened the pouch, “looks like you’ve found some seeds,” she smiled.

Kiaria peaked at the small spattering of seeds cupped in Sakura’s palm. Sakura was happy at the prospect of just finding seeds but upon a closer inspection and a whiff of a familiar scent, Sakura’s smile became brighter.

“These are chamomile seeds!” 

“Like the tea?” Kiaria asked.

“Yes! Chamomile makes a great tea but it also is a medicinal herb. Its calming properties are fantastic for anxiety and depression, or to soothe upset stomachs or headaches. It's known to even help you sleep better and find a sense of tranquillity.” She happily explained and to her great relief the other girl seemed to be enraptured by her every word.

“That’s amazing.” She spoke softly as Sakura carefully sealed up the pouch, placed it in her lap and without hesitation dove her hands into the dirt in the search for more seed bags.

“Another!” Sakura exclaimed as she extracted a new pouch. She inspected the seeds and happily proclaimed to the younger girl crowding closer for a better look, “Cilantro seeds!”

“Like the garnish? Is it also medicinal?” 

“Yep! Cilantro is packed with antioxidants - which are substances that protect your cells from free radicals which are unstable molecules made during normal cell metabolism that can lead to disease - it also is a good source of vitamins A, C, K, and E, and can even help fight infections and reduce inflammation.” Kiaria’s eyes sparkled with every word.

“S-So much! I had no idea it was so helpful!”

Sakura’s grin took a nearly fanatical edge as she turned her attention to the mound of dirt in front of them, “and I’ll bet there’s more in here.” Her hesitation was entirely eclipsed by her eagerness as Sakura open-handedly began digging through the mud.

Sakura spared a thought for her companion, thinking the young girl might be repulsed by the idea of rooting around the mud with dirt caked up to her elbows in the search for tiny bags of seeds. But Kiaria bloomed like a sunflower under the sunlight of knowledge, an energy looked to overcome her senses and hesitance was thrown to the wind as she reached out for the sun's warm glow. She knelt in the dirt, removed her bag and dove her arms in.

The two twittered happily as they pulled chunks of dirt and sifted in their hands for the pouches. When a discovery was made it would be thrust into Sakura’s hands for the medic to go into a brief description of the herb and its medical properties whilst Kiaria listened eagerly.

Kangae joined the two by yanking sticks and twigs from the mound, he also would pick and peck and find a pouch that he presented proudly to the girls.

Sakura was beyond happy to find the seeds. As a medic working with limited resources she needed to work with what she had. Finding medicinal herbs would help, but finding medicinal herb seeds would last a lot longer. And if she wanted to prove she was willing to be a part of that team, growing her own medicinal herbs would be a nice way to imply it.

She did find that as she unearthed the herbs, deep at the base of her skull began a dull thumping. It wasn’t so painful or even noticeable at first, if it was the beginning of a headache then it was one easier enough to ignore. ‘I’m a medic so it would make sense that digging around for herbs would be something I’m familiar with.’

It was doubtful that there was any specific memory she would have of her collecting herbs so she ignored the thumping and continued her digging.

Sakura was almost ashamed to admit that she had been so captivated by their task that the shadow looming from behind her went unnoticed for an unknown amount of time.

Kiaria hadn’t noticed and she and Kangae continued their task but Sakura looked up behind them and saw Tobi standing completely silent.

Once recognising the man, Sakura didn’t even register the unnatural silence and stillness of the man she called teammate as she happily presented the handful of seed pouches she had on her lap.

“Tobi, you’ll never guess what we’ve found. Medicinal herb seeds! We’ve got chamomile, cilantro, oregano, parsley, thyme, basil, dill and sage so far!” She presented each bag held by the string in her muddied fingers with joy.

No response. Sakura fiddled the seed pouch between her fingers and felt her smile slowly slip. He stood tall and still, the only movement was the winds calmly ruffling his dark hair. She wasn’t familiar with Tobi being so quiet and unresponsive.

“Tobi?”

“-Another! Sakura, I’ve found another!” Kiaria squealed as she extracted a seed pouch, brushed the stubborn dirt off the material and enthusiastically shoved it in Sakura’s face, nearly falling over her own lap in her eagerness.

Sakura opened the pouch and carefully deposited a small collection of seeds into her awaiting palm. She gave the cluster an inspection and came to the correct conclusion. But before she could answer, her teammate did, his tone even and deep.

“Rosemary.”

Both Sakura and Kiaria looked up to the masked man with the unusual weight to his voice. Something in their eyes must have done something -perhaps their surprise at his guess?- as Tobi shrugged, his whole body moved with the gesture.

“Tobi’s just guessing though!” He chuckled before he dropped to crouch in place now at eye level with the girls.

Kiaria snapped out of her trance fast and turned her eager attention back to Sakura, “is it Rosemary? What medical properties does it have?”

Sakura mentally shook herself and held the seeds closer to her audience. “Tobi’s right, this is Rosemary. Rosemary is a good source of calcium, iron and vitamin B6, and it contains compounds that offer both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.”

Kiaria nodded along and Tobi mirrored her, though his energy felt more reserved. Like Sakura was sitting next to not an heiress acting older than she is with a person as animated as clothing hung to dry and whipped around by violent winds, but instead a young girl and a tall hunched man.

Kiaria began helping Kangae pull a stick from the mud and Sakura looked to her quiet teammate. She offered him a small smile and asked with genuine curiosity, “how’d you know it was rosemary?”

He remained still for a moment, as if his personality was catching up with him, was he tired? 

He waved a hand, “they’re good for sore eyes so I used to have rosemary tea a lot. But we don’t have any at the base.” His tone sounded almost artificially put in place, his words were genuine but his tone acting as a curtain to hide that sincerity.

Sakura’s brow furrowed, “you suffer from sore eyes? Would you allow me to have a look, maybe I could be of some help?”

Tobi slowly covered his masked face with his hands and shook his head, he moaned low, “no~, Tobi’s embarrassed about his eyes~”

Sakura let out a helpless breath, “I won't force you, Tobi, but as your medic I’m here if you need any help. Even if I felt less than neutral about you, I’d want to help.” Tobi split his fingers so he could peak out his mask's eye hole to peer at her.

Sakura fought to keep her concern from her face, ‘how severe are his eye issues? Have they been a factor in his life since childhood? Does his mask play a factor in aiding his pain? Maybe one eye is more affected than the other so it's concealed…’

She swallowed and felt a heavy weight drop in her gut, his mask may be for medical purposes and she kept trying to peek at him… She felt a flush of shame colour her cheeks when confronting the thought that she had been acting insensitively with her teammate, just because the man was childish didn’t exclude him from any form of chronic pain or injury.

“Psst,” Tobi whispered and Sakura was snapped from her thoughts, “can we chat alone for a sec?” Sakura mutely nodded. Tobi sprung up to his feet, the familiar energy held in each step he took just a short distance away.

“I’ll be right back, you two keep an eye on each other, okay?” Sakura placed the seed pouches in a small pile next to Kiaria and stood up as the young girl and raven chorused a light “okay!”

Sakura came to meet Tobi where he stood still in sight of the two digging happily for pouches, an apology was on her tongue but the tall man was quicker with his words than her.

“Tobi’s worried about you,”

“Huh?” Sakura blinked.

“When we got here you looked sad, like you were disappointed. Tobi figured finding all those herb pouches helped you feel better but still,” he cocked his head.

“I…” Sakura struggled to put her emotions into words.

“Tobi’s your senpai so your wellbeing is important to me! So please tell Tobi what was wrong, did you get another headache?”

Sakura shook her head, “thank you, Tobi. But no, it’s nothing like that. It’s just..” she crossed her arms tightly across her abdomen. “It sounds stupid when I say it out loud… But I thought, for a second, that maybe I was from here… I thought since I’m a medic and my home was wiped out by some kind of disaster, I thought maybe Soil Town was my home.”

Tobi paused before asking, “what made you think that? Did you remember something?”

She shook her head again, hanging it lower, her eyes losing focus on the soil and dirt they stood in. “No… Nothing’s come back to me. I thought finding what was left of my village would bring back some memories but when we got here I felt… nothing -and I feel awful that I didn’t feel anything! People died here and homes were crushed but the fact that I’m not from here left me feeling disappointed.” She spoke that last word through gritted teeth, ashamed to even admit it.

She sighed and her shoulders dropped, “I’m alive… I’ve got air in my lungs, a friend who cares enough about me to come find me, and patients who need me… How cruel am I to feel disappointed when the people who lived here lost their lives… I may not have much but at least I’m alive.” Her throat tightened, a flush of warmth rose up her cheeks and her eyes began to sting. The moment between them thanks to Sakura’s admission caused even the wind to hang dead around them. Nothing moved as Sakura felt tears begin to well in her eyes

“Tobi doesn't…” Sakura slowly looked up, her teammate practically huffed as he put his hands on his hips. Finding the words he wanted to say, he spoke them clearly and precisely, leaving no room for any of them to be misconstrued. “I don’t think you’re cruel.”

Sakura had to crane her neck to meet his hidden eye. “You’re not a bad person for not finding what you were hoping for, and the fact that you do feel bad for the people that lived here even though you’re not from here proves you’re not as self-centred as you think you are. You’re allowed to feel disappointed. You’re allowed to feel upset! Tobi would be balling his eyes out if he were you!”

Sakura wiped her teary eye but couldn’t look away from the man. “I know that in an unfair world like this, a world that doesn’t feel like it’s helping you or is giving you what you're looking for, it’s easy to feel like answers are something you'll never find. That staying alive in it is a blessing to itself. You are alive, you do have air in your lungs and it’s still okay to feel sad.”

She sniffled as he slowly bent his knees and gently placed his hands on her much smaller shoulders. “Tobi has felt sad and disappointed before, Tobi’s felt similar to how you feel, but there’s something that keeps Tobi going. Something that reminds Tobi that his sadness won’t last forever, that keeps Tobi going no matter how unfair the world is, something that keeps him believing things can change.”

Sakura hadn’t realised she was holding her breath until she stuttered on an inhale as Tobi finally continued. “A purpose. Once you find a purpose, you’ll find who you really are in a world that rejects you or hurts you or tries to forget you. Tobi found his purpose in the Akatsuki! Once you’ve found your purpose, Tobi’s sure you’ll find the answers you’re looking for.”

He rubbed her shoulders in a brief but incredibly comforting gesture, without it Sakura felt she might fall to pieces. She sniffled as he let go and slowly pulled himself back to full height, she felt over his words carefully and with the reverence of a person seeing the sky for the first time. Her heart thrummed as she thought about Konan, her best friend who cared about her and nursed her back to health, the people back at base depending on her with their lives, she thought of her mission and felt the corners of her lips curve.

A small smile was growing as gratitude unfurled in her chest.

She wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. “Thank you, Tobi. You’ve given me something to think about.”

“Really? Did Tobi give good advice?” He asked eagerly, now a being of pure excitement wrapped in a cloak and mask. Sakura couldn’t fight the giggle that bubbled from her heart and erupted from her lips.

“Yes, Tobi!” She fought to get her giggles under control enough that she could slip the words out. Said man threw his arms in the air in triumph.

“Yay! Tobi did a good senpai thing!” He cheered before taking Sakura by her shoulders and manoeuvring her closer to the fence bent almost completely on its side where he righted a simple wooden bench back to its four legs. Tobi swiped dirt away with his hands until he was satisfied and Sakura let herself be guided to sit down.

“Sakura should take a break! So you sit down here for a bit until you feel better and Tobi will take care of the little rich kid!” He thumped a proud fist on his chest before spinning in place and jogging up to Kiaria and Kangae.

“Tobi wants to dig for treasure too!” He announced as he dropped to his knees and without hesitance dove his gloved hands into the mound of dirt. Kiaria’s wince turned into a giggle as he caused dirt to fly everywhere with his energetic searching. Kangae seemed infected by Tobi’s energy as he flung himself into the dirt with reckless abandon.

Sakura smiled at the scene. Now she had a moment to breathe, she crossed her ankles and looked at her hands resting in her lap. She winced as she was confronted with her hands completely covered in dirt paired with matching dirt stains on her yukata.

Tobi may be childish at times but at least he was smart enough to dig through dirt in gloves. ‘Didn’t think I’d be digging through dirt looking for herb pouches today, but you never really know where the day will take you. So I really should get myself some gloves…’ Sakura huffed.

Her eyes unfocused from her hands and focused on the sticks and pebbles in the uneven dirt covered ground below. Her eyes followed along the ground until she found herself looking to her side where an overturned bucket laid under a portion of the fence completely tipped over and standing protruding from the ground was a metal tap.

“Well, I really should clean up and make sure Kiaria is presentable for her grandfather.” She got to her feet and easily held up the fence with one hand as she grabbed the bucket with her other hand. Learning she was stronger than she thought thanks to her earlier fight certainly made some things a lot easier.

As she turned the tap and watched the water stutter and spurt until it settled to a consistent stream, she focused on that thought. Her training had come through like muscle memory and now she knew she was stronger than average and could channel her chakra to make herself even stronger. So it would stand to reason that in attempting other jutsu’s that she was likely to know, then she could confirm if they were in her capabilities.

“I could start with a clone? Those are one of the most useful and versatile jutsu’s there are, and if I have a water type chakra nature affinity then it stands to reason…”

She turned off the tap as the bucket reached its limit. Sakura straightened her back and tried to think back to her ever learning a water clone jutsu. For her to be taught it, that would mean she had at least had a teacher or mentor show her.

She squeezed her eyes tighter, forcing colours to swim in her vision. ‘Come on Sakura… If you love learning so much then surely you can remember the hand signs to a simple jutsu like this…’

The colours spiralled and merged until Sakura could barely make something out of it. It was blurred and ill defined but she could tell, she felt it deep in her gut that she had seen this. Thicker masculine hands forming a hand sign. Her vision was nearly encompassed in a mist or a fog but she saw these hands form the sign and so she straightened her back and began to mirror it.

A simple Tiger hand sign. 

She’d seen a man with scared thick hands form this hand sign to perform the water clone jutsu.

The instant she came to that conclusion, a stabbing pain pierced the sides of her head, an ear piercing ringing filled her ears, her eyes scrunched in pain, her teeth clenched reflexively and she nearly fell to the ground as she felt her knees give out. She felt a thumping in her head to the beat of her pulse and it throbbed so badly that she dropped the hand sign and gripped the sides of her head.

Her knees wobbled and she dropped her hands to steady them, refusing to let the pain bring her to the ground. She winced and forced her eyes open.

Through the splitting ringing and the deep thrumming, she forced her eyes to focus, and what she saw made the pain fade to the back of her mind. The once still water in the bucket was now sloshing against the rims in the process of re-settling itself. Like it had begun to be lifted out only to be unceremoniously dropped back in.

Sakura’s eye widened at the realisation, she forced the pain down her throat with a deep breath and formed the tiger hand sign again.

She let out a breath as she channelled her chakra and envisioned a clone of herself. With one final push of chakra, with gritted teeth, she opened her eyes to see the water in the bucket rise.

She watched the water form a shape, ripple into colours, and solidify until what stood before her was a mirror of herself.

A broad smile lit up her face and she breathed out an aborted laugh. “I… I did it…” The clone mirrored her joy by pumping her fists close to her body and laughing. “Yes!”

Her thoughts raced, ‘this will be so useful! When I work on Kisame I can summon water clones to operate as nurses and assistants! I’ll be able to get so much done!’ She was thinking over the possibilities this discovery blossomed that she had yet to realise her near crippling headache had faded to nothing more than a muffled thumping easily ignored in the face of her rediscovered jutsu. 

Sakura took the next moment to take in a good long look at her clone, said clone fanned her hand out to her sides, stepping out of the bucket, and turning in place to allow Sakura to take her mirror image in. ‘Huh, I look younger than I thought I would.’

The clone adjusted their tasselled hat that, like Sakura, hung behind her head suspended by the thread resting across her throat, and neatened up her fringe. Her bangs hung long down the sides of her face and curled at the ends like water rolling over her shoulders, her cheeks were full and pinched with a smile, and unlike herself the clone was not covered in dirt.

Before Sakura could continue her line of thinking, mulling over her youthful appearance, Kangae fluttered down to sit on her shoulder. Just as Sakura was about to happily relay her discovery, Kangae nipped her ear in his beak and Sakura startled in surprise.

“Kangae!” she rubbed her ear as the bird shuffled but didn’t look remorseful.

“I saw. You were having a headache again.” His childish voice was solemn and sad.

Sakura pulled herself back and sighed, “I was, thank you, I’m okay now.” She said and stroked a soothing hand atop the raven's head. The thumping in her head had faded away and Kangae began preening under the attention.

Gently, the clone cupped the bird from her shoulder and began lavishing him with affection. She said happily, “I just remembered how to perform the water clone jutsu!”

Kangae twittered and chirped happily under the scratches and a final kiss to his head.

Kiaria’s voice carried through the air with the excited bounce of an energetic child, “Sakura! Tobi found another herb pouch- Gasp!” Sakura, the clone and Kangae spun their attention to the girl who was looking between the two Sakura’s with an alarm screaming excitement and curiosity.

“There’s two of you!” She scurried to her feet from the dirt and nearly tripped as she ran up to the duo. “How did you do that? No! Wait, is it some kind of ninjutsu? Or is it a genjutsu and I only think I see two of you? No, for me to be the focus of a genjutsu you would have had to make eye contact with me.” She began to ramble and the two Sakura’s giggled.

“You’re right it is a ninjutsu,” Sakura patted the younger girl's head. “It’s called the water clone jutsu and the other me holding Kangae is made of water solidified and controlled by my chakra. Clones typically have about one tenth of the user's power and will return to their prior state, in this case it would be water, upon either a lethal or damaging impact or the user releases the jutsu.”

The clone shifted Kangae to one hand and held out her other hand palm up to the girl who looked her up and down in fascination. She examined the extended hand with her eyes, shifting her head this way and that to take her in at all angles before carefully poking the open palm with her muddied index finger. She poked and gasped when the palm remained solid.

“That’s amazing!” Confirming with a few more pokes before taking the hand in both of hers and twisting it around, fascinated how it reacted like a normal person's hand. “How many clones are you capable of making at once?”

“It depends on how much chakra a person has and how accurately they’re able to dispense it to the required amount to produce an adequate clone. For me, I estimate the most I could summon at once could be around five or six. One clone wouldn’t require a lot of energy to maintain so I could keep it functioning for a good number of hours, but a large group at once I could probably keep around for an hour at most.” Sakura explained as Kangae leapt back to her shoulder.

“How hard is that jutsu to learn?” Kiaria’s eyes glittered.

“The clone jutsu requires learning before a student can even make genin so it’s considered a beginners jutsu. It would be difficult for you to learn the water jutsu because…?” She purposely trailed off and slowly held an encouraging hand.

Kiaria connected the dots quickly, “because I don’t know what chakra nature affinity I have.”

“Exactly, once you know that, then the correct clone jutsu would be assigned to your curriculum.” Kiaria took in each word with a nod and a look of open wonder slowly turning to one of determination. She went to grab her bag before realising she had left it back at the dirt pile.

“Missing something?” The bag was suddenly held suspended between them as Tobi was now standing with the group. “So mean just leaving Tobi there! Hmph! At least be happy Tobi didn’t take the chance to snoop through your nerdy book.” Kiaria snatched the bag.

“It’s not a nerdy book! It’s a book about the plants and flowers native to the Village hidden in the Rain. I’m starting to think the reason you didn’t go flipping through my book was because you can’t read.”

“Tobi can too read!” Sakura got between the two and stopped Kiaria from opening the bag.

“Before we do anything! Why don’t we clean up first? I think it’s time we continue our journey don’t you?” Upon hearing her words, Kiaria looked to her hands and came to the sudden clarity of how filthy she was. Mud and dirt streaked up to her elbows and patches on her knees to her shoes. Tobi seemed unbothered by the dirt on his gloved arms.

Kiaria’s face reddened with embarrassment and she adjusted her bag to her side, she nodded mutely.

Sakura turned to the clone, she held up the correct hand sign as the clone took her cue and stood back in the bucket. The clone’s colour rippled and faded, its form melding together to form one mass of water that gravity took claim of and fell into the bucket.

Kiaria was momentarily forgetful of her embarrassment as she watched with wide eyes and clapped at the display. Sakura summoned a cloth from one of her scrolls and dunked it in the bucket. “Alright, let’s get you cleaned up.”

❀

They group didn’t stay much longer, though Sakura was walking away with ten different little herb pouches in total so she wasn’t leaving empty handed. Her conversation with Tobi and the rediscovery of her water clone jutsu also peppering her steps with an extra spring as they left the remains of Soil Town and continued their journey to Mud Town.

The group were clean free of the dirt from their earlier escapade. Kiaria had resumed her task of holding the chakra paper in her open hand and trying to focus her chakra to it. She seemed to have taken the earlier lesson to heart as her grip was lax, her shoulders loose, her eyes resting closed and her breathing even. 

However, as she was evidently trying not to hold the paper too harshly, now every few minutes the paper would fly from her hand and she would scramble to catch it before the wind could stake its claim on the errant slip and return it to her palm. Kangae had decided to perch on her shoulder and help her catch the paper should it go flying. He seemed to be having fun with his new task.

Meanwhile Sakura and Tobi discussed Sakura’s rediscovery. Tobi seemed happy for her that she remembered it, though she was sad to report that she remembered nothing else. He eagerly asked her questions like;

“Do you remember who taught you?”

“No, just a man's hands making the hand sign. That’s all.”

“Do you remember any other water jutsu?”

“I don’t think so? I had another headache just remembering the water clone jutsu so when I have a moment to myself and no pressing matters then I’d like to focus on trying to remember any other water jutsu.”

“Oh! Can Tobi help? Tobi would love to help if you need someone to spar with! And if you look like your headache hurts too much then Tobi can snap you out of it.”

“That would be nice, Tobi. After the mission and I get my emergency patients out of critical conditions then I’d appreciate the help.”

“Ah!” Kiaria gasped as the chakra paper flew from her palm. Kangae was quick to leap from her shoulder and swoop directly to the paper. He snatched the slip as carefully as he could and returned to the young girl's shoulder.

“Thank you Kangae,” she sighed and accepted the offered paper. Sakura shifted so she could walk alongside the dejected girl.

“Are you doing okay?” She asked.

“She still failing- BAM!” Sakura elbowed Tobi so hard he was momentarily winded but she succeeded in stopping him from making Kiaria feel any worse. 

The mans cut off words still stung as her shoulders drooped and her steps became lethargic. Sakura looked out at the path they walked and began to smile.

She said softly, “why don’t you take a break for a bit, look up.”

Kiaria looked up from her hand and out through the break in the trees at the end of the path and saw the darkened silhouette of Mud Town against the sun setting sky. Her posture, her mood, her expression, all of it lightened so positively that Sakura worried the girl would float away.

Her steps quickened and she hastily opened her bag to slip the chakra paper safe between the pages and Sakura fought to not giggle as she sped up to match Kiaria's speed. She called over her shoulder, “come on, Tobi! We’re here!”

The man had one arm braced against a tree and folded over himself, he wheezed as he raised a thumbs up then waved the hand to let her know he would catch up. 

Kiaria’s walk turned into a brisk pace which soon became a run. Sakura easily kept up with her as they reached the town and skidded to a stop. She looked around wildly, her curls springing around her face with the erraticness of her movements.

“Where - Where is my grandfather?” Sakura quickly calmed her with a hand on her shoulder.

“He’s waiting in a house here, he should have his protection with him so he should be alright. I’ll take you to him.”

Tobi caught up to them however his wheezing breaths that had him hunched over and gripping his knees told her he was still recovering from her strike. She cared about Tobi but he had that hit coming and she would not apologise.

“Yeah…” he huffed for breaths between words, “let’s… go…” the group continued into the town.

Sakura looked around the streets and buildings for any sign of their missing teammate and as they came to the target house her musing was halted by Zetsu emerging between them and the door.

“You took your time.” Their voice was wispy and deep. Kiaria cowered behind Sakura, holding her hand and swallowing her excitement to look upon the teammate she hadn’t seen before. She was smart enough to recognise the cloak matched Tobi’s so the person wasn’t an enemy, but their unnatural appearance unnerved her.

Sakura wanted to apologise, it was due to her insistence that they take that detour to Soil Town and kept Zetsu waiting.

Before she could apologise, Tobi’s hand came to rest atop her shoulder and he stepped closer to their teammate. “We had some stuff to do.” His voice sounded like he was smiling but his back was rigid as he and Zetsu stared each other down.

Both girls watched silently as the two stood still, one had to bend.

Zetsu sighed and stood to the side. “The client waits with two assistants. I will guard the house until we receive payment and depart.”

“Sounds good!” Tobi saluted, he bounded up to the door and knocked with a cheery tone, “Delivery~” 

The rickety door is slid open by a man. He towered high, head higher than the door frame and a shadow hanging over his stony expression. He wore a dark suit that complimented his tan skin, yet the well put professional image he made was disrupted by the scar on his lip and the many silver piercings in his ears. His messy dark hair tied back and his eyes looked over the group with a heavy analysing stare.

His eyes softened however when they came to fall on the young girl still tucked safely behind Sakura.

He pulled the door to slide the rest of the way open and his expression opened to one more welcoming. “You must be the little mistress lady Kiaria,” his voice was of a low timber but not unkind, rather than an act, the rugged man sounded incredibly genuine. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Nakaya-sama’s been talking about nothin’ other than you, all good things though I promise,” his grin showed off sharp canines but his words successfully extended the hand that the younger girl was open to taking.

Kiaria still held Sakura’s hand but she emerged from her safe place and stood at her side. “Is - Is my grandfather here?”

The man nodded and stepped to the side, “my partner’s with him now in the lounge, he’s eager to see you.”

At this, Kiaria perked up and pulled Sakura inside.

Time could have stopped and Sakura wouldn’t have noticed. Sitting hunched in the chair he had been in before, as though he hadn’t moved since Sakura had last seen him, sat the old form that was Tomio Nakaya. A man frozen in place, frozen with grief, frozen in time. Yet as Sakura took him in, saw the sunken cheeks, the weakness of his hung limbs, and air of sickness that clung to his frame. Sakura saw in his widening copper eyes, full with a sense of relief so great that it could be expressed no other way than tearing up, Sakura thought ‘they have the same eyes.’

A choked sob was all the noise that came from Kiaria and she abandoned Sakura’s hand and flung herself across the room. Nakaya tried to stand but his shaking knees were slower than his granddaughter's joy as she all but forced him back in the chair and hugged him around the middle.

“Jiji!” She sobbed, the weight of her relief crashing into her like a wave, her body heaving with her breaths as she wept.

“Oh my Kiaria,” Nakaya’s voice was wet and full of joy as he held her close. Stroking his hand up and down her back, settling on her hair, never stopping as though he was confirming to himself with every second he held her that she was with him, alive. “My darling girl, my little princess, oh Kiaria I was so worried. I’m so sorry.”

The girl looked smaller in the arms of her grandfather and she sniffled, shaking her head against his chest. “Don’t apologise, Jiji -sniff- it wasn’t your fault. I’m okay now -sniff- I promise.”

Sakura was so taken into the scene she caught herself tearing up. Out of politeness she looked away and allowed the little family their moment. She took notice of the man standing between the chair holding the Nakayas and the sliding door that led to another room, presumably the kitchen.

His suit was well tailored, stitched to his lithe figure and of the same style and make as the other man. However, though he was dressed the same, he himself was like a warped mirror. One man was broad, the other was lean. One man's black hair was choppily and messily pulled back to a ponytail, the others looked soft to the touch, a silk curtain hanging over one eye and pulled to a longer ponytail spilling down his back. One decorated with scars and piercings, the other untouched and unblemished equip with only a pair of black rimmed glasses.

But the way each man carried themselves was where they truly differed. The man who stood tall, tan skin, piercings and scars seemed to hold his heart on his sleeve, expressions changing with a vibrance that could only be a genuine enthusiasm of a man happy to feel. A protective sternness when looking down possible threats at the door, a kind smile when meeting a young girl, and now the soft eyes of a man looking upon a touching reunion with all the empathy a person could hold.

In comparison, the other man may as well have been a painting. His expression blank, his posture immaculate and unflinching against the scene in front of him, not a hair or thread out of place. A pale ghost unable to empathise with the life in the room.

Eventually the little family separated themselves, though they kept their hands interlocked. “I cannot begin to thank you enough for returning my dearest granddaughter to me,” Nakaya’s voice was wet as he wiped his teary cheeks with a handkerchief.

Sakura bowed, “I’m happy we were of help.”

“Yeah!” Tobi chimed in, “and you can thank us enough. Y’know, since we did this for pay and junk.”

“Tobi!” Sakura was about to scold the man when Nakaya shook his head and raised a hand.

“No, no. I understand, and seeing how you saved my granddaughter promptly I am more than happy to pay you however you need.”

Sakura sighed. Unhappy to interrupt the touching conversation with talks of pay but she was in dire need of medical equipment and this mission would hopefully provide her that. She took a seat and Kangae, who had been silent on her shoulder, shifted so that he was sitting in her lap.

As she sat, the expressionless man had silently excused himself from the room, only to return with a silver tray carrying a beautiful tea set and wordlessly began setting the small table with the saucers and cups.

Nakaya smiled, “thank you, Shiori. Please,” he gestured with an open hand and Sakura recognised it would be rude to refuse. She thanked the man and accepted the steaming cup of tea.

The other man brought a small wooden chair with a pillow from a separate room and deposited it behind Kiaria, “oh, thank you.” She smiled and accepted the chair then happily accepted the offered tea from the paler man.

“Kia-chan, I’d like you to meet Ryota,” Nakaya gestured to the broad man standing behind her with a smile and polite nod, “and Shiori. They will be our butlers for the foreseeable future.”

“Grandfather, please not that nickname…” She muttered, pink dusting her cheeks. “It’s nice to meet you both, I hope you’ll be happy with us.”

Ryota’s smile though showing off sharp canines, was welcoming, “I’m sure we’ll get along, and it’s for the best you know that I’ll be your personal butler while my partner Shiori will be Nakaya-sama’s. I’ll be here to ensure your needs are met and your safety is guarded.”

“Indeed, we hope to serve the Nakaya family well.” Shiori’s voice was clear and even like an untouched stream of water. He straightened himself after safely passing Kiaria her teacup and saucer then bowed deeply to Sakura and Tobi. “We would like to thank you for returning Lady Kiaria to Nakaya-sama safely.” 

Sakura waved her hand, “it’s alright, really. She’s a delightful and bright girl and I’m happy she’ll be in your care from here on out.”

Nakaya’s arms may be frail but he gave a simple clap and his smile became one of professional politeness while his eyes still shone with gratitude. He then placed a gentle hand on Kiaria’s knee and said “it’s getting late and Shiori will be bringing out dinner soon. While we talk business, Kia-chan, why don’t you go wash up? I’ll be happy for you to tell me everything about your journey here after dinner.”

Kiaria looked at most like she wanted to object to leaving the room, and at least object to the nickname again but she held her tongue.

Ryota offered her a polite out as he leaned over to say, “I’ve already prepared a warm bath and a change of clothes. I’d be happy to show you the way.”

Kiaria squeezed her grandfather's hand, “okay, I’ll be back soon.” She stood up and bowed respectfully before following Ryota out the room leaving him to slide the door shut.

A bath would be good for her. Sakura recalled after digging through dirt she had done her best to clean the girl up with water and wipes but a relaxing bath and change of clothes would do wonders.

“Thank you for your patience. I just wouldn’t feel comfortable with Kiaria being here for this talk.”

Tobi nodded sagely, “not keyed her in that our involvement isn’t as the kid would say legal,” He used air quotes.

“I’m well aware and if her life is ever put in danger again I would not hesitate to reach out to you again. She’s young and I pray this traumatic experience hasn’t darkened her bright view of the world. So it’s for the best that she focuses on better things while we finalise payment.”

“Ignorance is bliss~” Tobi sing-songed and Sakura bit the inside of her cheek. He continued, “that’s fine with us anyway since we need something else instead of your money.”

Nakaya placed his elbows on the chair's armrests and rested his chin on his crossed hands, “you need me to purchase things for you.”

“Ding ding!” Tobi clapped, “bottom line is that our medic here is sadly lacking in a bunch of medical equipment and we need you to get them for us.”

Nakaya nodded, “I see, I can do that.” Sakura was a little taken aback by the man's lack of hesitance. He looked to the butler who stood silently behind him, “Shiori, how long would it take for you to go to Petrichor Centre in the village hidden in the Rain to retrieve what I need and return?”

Shiori inclined his head politely, “depending on how promptly the hospital could comply with your requests, I could be back by morning.”

“I see. Well then, I’ll compose a letter for my contact at Petrichor Centre with the disclosed equipment requests and have them deduct the appropriate payment alongside my hospital bills so there won't be a paper trail.”

“Sounds good to us! Think you can have a list of all the stuff you need ready asap?” It took Sakura an embarrassingly long moment to realise she was suddenly a part of the conversation and hurried to nod in reply to Tobi’s question.

She scrambled in her pockets and pulled out her notepad, as she was listing off the many pieces of equipment ranging larger necessities like a surgical table, surgical headlight, an EKG machine, an endoscopy unit, an anaesthesia machine with the required cart, circuits and monitor, Sakura thought that Nakaya was probably suspecting she was listing off the entire contents of a surgical room; because she was.

Nakaya eventually held up a hand as she moved onto the smaller necessities like scalpels and such though his expression was still professionally blank. “You needn’t report everything, I trust you’ve listed everything you need. I will spare no expense and see you receive all you request.”

Sakura blinked, numbly tearing the list from her notebook and depositing it in Shiori’s outstretched hand. “You… forgive me for saying this but… Do you not have any questions regarding my list?” Surely he was curious why a medic was void of such essentials as scalpels and a stethoscope .

He simply shook his head as he accepted Shiori’s hand, assisting him stand, “your business is your own. What harm can be done by procuring medical equipment for you? Regardless, my granddaughter is safe again. I knew what I was getting myself into by hiring a group to work outside village laws and I’m prepared to pay you however way you wish.”

He bowed his head and Sakura responded by bowing lower, “please excuse me while I compose my letter. Shiori has prepared dinner and a room here for you tonight until you receive your payment.”

“Thank you, Nakaya-san. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.” She said, he smiled in return and exited the room. 

Now left with just her teammate, Sakura let out a long breath and leaned back against the uncomfortable wooden couch. She began absentmindedly stroking the raven in her lap who was oblivious to her conflicted thoughts. Tobi cocked his head at her blank stare boring holes in the cracked roof.

“Huh, Tobi thought you’d look happier. We’re getting the stuff you need! Why do you look like you just saw fish sprout legs and start singing?” Sakura snorted a laugh, that was certainly a colourful way to say she looked confused.

“I am happy, Tobi… It’s just…” she mulled over the words in her mouth with her tongue for a moment. “We’re not technically stealing the equipment or anything but, we are using a sick rich man to buy us things under the table from the biggest hospital in the world. I just get this dirty feeling that we’re doing something wrong? Petrichor Centre shouldn’t just be selling its equipment off to anyone that can afford it. That surgical table I just asked for could have been taken from a room and a patient that needs it…”

She trailed off. Hospitals selling their equipment made her feel wrong. Not to mention illegal. And just how high up in the hospital chain of command was Nakaya’s contact that they could ensure a silent unnoticeable transaction of money for an entire surgical room's equipment and supplies? As a medic, it didn’t sit right with her.

Tobi shrugged, “Tobi hears what you're saying but you’re not thinkin’ with the full picture.” She turned to look at the man and raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Yeah we’re getting equipment from a hospital where people need it but we’re also the people who need it. If that place really is the biggest and best hospital in the world then they definitely have more than one scalpel! We’re not taking their stuff, we’re exchanging it for money they could use to buy other stuff, hell! Maybe they’ll use the money to buy better stuff!” He gestured with his hands.

“Plus it’s not like we’re taking this stuff for the hell of it, we have people that need it too. Kisame is practically knocking at death's door! You can’t tell Tobi that he can’t be classified as ‘a patient that needs it’.”

Sakura nodded along. He was making sense, yes technically they were doing something illegal by buying equipment from Petrichor Centre, but Sakura had patients whose lives depended on her. It was out of the question that she absolutely needed these supplies to save her patients' lives. This line of thinking helped her swallow down that dirty feeling.

“Besides, it’s like the old guy said,” Tobi put a hand on her shoulder, “what harm can be done by procuring medical equipment for you?”

“Yeah!” Kangae piqued up, “if you need it then you need it! What else can you do but ask for it?” He nuzzled into her open hand requesting attention.

Sakura nodded, they were right. They weren’t asking for swords or axes or weaponry. They needed medical supplies, they could only need them for ultimately good reasons. “Thanks, Tobi. Putting it like that actually makes me feel a lot better.”

“He he, Tobi’s full of little nuggets of wisdom.” He giggled.

Soon after that, the two were joined by a sparkling clean Kiaria in a comfortable change of clothes followed by Ryota dutifully holding her bag. She chatted happily with Sakura about her and Nakaya’s future residence in Petrichor centers residency branch, about the native animals she was looking forward to seeing alongside the hope that her grandfather's health would improve. 

She asked Sakura where she was going after leaving, and she brought a finger to her chin to think. “Well I’ve got some patients to work on at the moment. Some needing specific materials I don’t have on hand. One even needs a new arm as his is decaying. I want to find him a new one but he insists on making one from a specific kind of clay.” She began to ramble to herself more than the other girl as she remembered Deidara’s odd idea.

“Oh? Do you mean haniyasu clay?” Ryota asked.

“Haniyasu clay?” Sakura perked up, “I’m not sure what kind of clay he was talking about but I think he said it’s in a mining town in the Land of the Wind.”

“That’s haniyasu clay, it’s clay extracted from the eggs of an animal native to the Land of Wind. Very malleable and it could have some medical properties since it comes from eggs. Only problem is the animal that lays them has become very endangered over the years. You’d be lucky to get your hands on any.”

Sakura hadn’t realised she’d been getting visibly excited until she dropped her shoulders in disappointment. “Oh…”

Kiaria looked at Ryota, “are you talking about sand sharks? Those are practically extinct.”

He nodded, “there aren't nearly as many anymore but there's still some out there.”

Sakura sank back against the stiff chair. Tobi voiced, “is there no way of getting some of the clay?”

“I don’t want to hunt an endangered animal just for the clay in its eggs,” Sakura said.

Ryota looked from Sakura to Kiaria who appeared saddened that she could offer no useful information. He said, “I’ll tell you what, the mining town you’re talking about is the Colony of Splinters, it has a lot of encounters with sand sharks even today. Thing is it's a very traditional and patriotic town so there’s no way they’d even think of selling haniyasu clay to outsiders.”

Sakura perked up again, “is there any way they would consider selling to me?”

Ryota nodded, “you don’t want them to see you as outsiders. If you use the old traditional names then they’ll respect you. Call haniyasu clay ‘khnum clay’ and refer to the Colony of Splinters as ‘Shamon’s Grip’ .”

“That’s fascinating,” Kiaria smiled at the man. “How do you know so much about this place?”

He smiled, eyes distant, “simple things to know for me, lady Kiaria. I’m from there.” He winked, crouching down to eye level with the smiling girl.

Nakaya joined them not too long later, dismissing Shiori on his mission to Rain village, and allowing Ryota to serve the group dinner. Tobi excused himself saying he was going to keep Zetsu company, meanwhile Sakura was happily held hostage by Kiaria, content to ramble to all in the room.

Sakura smelled the various cooking meats before Ryota had even entered the room. The butler had first rolled out a tablecloth, laid out cutlery for the three of them, and returned with a large hotpot.

Simmering in the dashi broth and smelling vaguely of soy underneath the overpowering scent of seafood and meat, was a nabemono. There sat boiling a wide variety of foods consisting of chicken, pork, shrimp, scallops, clams, fish fillets, tofu, napa cabbage and long onions.

Sakura swallowed down the mouthful of saliva she’d accumulated in just smelling the dinner and the butler wasn’t even finished serving them. She prayed her stomach kept quiet as he laid out bowls of noodles and other vegetables.

Sakura fought to keep herself from stuttering as she reported to Nakaya what the mission had entailed regarding Kiaria’s rescue while the girl pitched in with how well taken care of she had been under Sakura’s protection. Kangae meanwhile has frozen on the armrest next to Sakura and she thanked her reflexes that had her snatching the raven from the air before he could successfully dive into the nearby bowl of carrots cut into flower shapes.

Ryota only excused himself once he had taken their prior drinks and replaced them with a serving of hot green tea.

“Thank you, Ryota. I’ll be sure to tell Shiori this smells absolutely divine.” Nakaya smiled and accepted the tea the butler held for him.

“He’ll be happy to hear it,” Ryota grinned, “but I tell you that now because he’ll probably say something about how your meals will be of an even better quality when he’s able to use your kitchen and not this shack's one.”

Nakaya chuckled, “well then I certainly have something to look forward to.”

A meal of this magnitude with this much variety was what the man considered knocking on the door of his cooking potential? Sakura swallowed again, this time in realisation that she had subjected Kiaria to street food and snacks when she hardly blinked at the spread before her. 

If Sakura thought the smell was mouth-watering, the taste had her near tears. She couldn’t begin to describe the flavour erupting on her tongue, but she was saved from being forced to engage in conversation as she could reply in nods and headshakes which Kiaria happily accepted.

“Did you know that flowers are seen as a status symbol in Rain village?” Kiaria beamed, snapping her head to the group. Sakura cocked her head and hummed quizzically as she had a mouthful of juicy pork slightly too hot for her tongue.

Nakaya spoke, “mind your manners, princess,” he was smiling however, it seemed he was scolding her out of reflex but couldn’t find it in himself to be truly cross with her.

Kiaria sat back, righting her posture and taking a measured sip of her tea to clear her throat.

Sakura finished her mouthful, tongue still a little too hot and said “I didn’t know that, are specific flowers more special than others?”

“Well due to the near constant rain, flowers themselves are incredibly hard to grow. Most all natural foods are imported and professions like florists are seen as an incredibly difficult and respected career. Lots of money goes into flower growing and likewise they go for quite a lot of money. You’ll only really see politicians, CEO’s, high class socialites and such people owning flowers due to it.” Kiaria said, taking another sip of her tea before continuing.

“Even then, it’s not particularly the types of flowers that carry significance but the colours that do.”

Sakura nodded along as she helped herself to a nice crunchy cabbage from the pot.

“Red flowers are seen as good luck, black flowers are seen as an offering of condolences, green flowers are a symbol of good news or new beginnings,” she listed them off with her fingers, “but the hardest colour flower to grow and seen as the ultimate symbol of high status that only people of ridiculous wealth are blue flowers!”

Sakura hummed and nodded as she let out quick breaths to cool down the vegetable in her mouth.

“Interestingly enough the white flower has taken on a new meaning in recent years. White flowers used to be seen as a symbol of well wishes but as flowers are incredibly hard to come by for most of Rain’s population, children began folding paper into flowers as gifts. This became a pretty common thing to do when one couldn’t afford real flowers so thanks to their popularity over the years white flowers, especially origami flowers, are seen as a symbol of friendship.”

THROB!

Sakura almost choked on her mouthful. She coughed with a closed mouth, struggling to swallow down the cabbage so as to not embarrass herself by spitting it out. The intensity of the headache that suddenly struck her was so blinding and intense it had her squeezing her eyes shut.

With great effort she swallowed her mouthful and coughed into her hand. Kangae had abandoned his bowl of tiny cut vegetables and was rubbing his head soothingly on her cheek. When she cracked an eye open she saw Ryota offering her a refilled cup of green tea.

“Thank you -cough, cough - I’m sorry about that.” She drank the cup in its entirety and the second she pulled it away from her lips, Ryota was refilling it.

“Are you alright? Do you need anything?” Nakaya asked concerned and Kiaria had lowered her chopsticks with an equal look of worry.

Sakura hurried to wave their concerns away, “I’m alright, just got the beginnings of a headache is all.”

The throbbing stubbornly remained a constant hum in her brain and she winced reflexively. The pain demanded so much of her attention that she found she’d lost her appetite.

She finished her refilled cup of tea and carefully placed it down, this took a real effort as the throbbing was causing her hands to tense to the torturous rhythm. “I think some fresh air would be best for me, thank you for having me for dinner though.” She bowed before standing.

“Very well, you’re welcome to the bedroom to the left of the hall when you’re ready to retire. I wish you a good rest.” Nakaya inclined his head.

Kiaria’s eyes however were still full of concern and followed her as Sakura excused herself from the house and slid the door shut behind her.

Sakura walked around to the side of the house where there was a small decking just big enough for her to sit on by dropping her legs to rest her feet in the mud below. Tension dropped from her body as she fell back against the house and allowed gravity to slowly pull her down. She winced and let out a long breath between clenched teeth until she sat on the creaking wood.

Kangae tried to support her by rubbing against her neck. “Thank you, Kangae.” She muttered. The throbbing blurring the corners of her vision as she tried to focus on what had triggered it.

“What happened? Was it from the food? Did you remember something about napa cabbage?” Sakura shook her head and pressed her palms harshly against her eyes until she saw colours in the blackness.

“No…” She mumbled. Flowers . It was the talk of flowers that caused it. She squeezed her eyes shut and focused.

There was a lot Sakura didn’t remember, but there were a few memories she did have. Two in particular she could point to where a connection to flowers was strong.

Konan offered her words of compassion and encouragement when they were children… along with a paper flower. Konan had gifted her an origami flower. Not to mention Konan herself wore an origami flower in her hair!

In the other memory where they went on an excursion to pick flowers -perhaps in a smaller village similar to soil town?- they had folded paper into origami flowers.

If that was the case and Konan was from Rain, then it would make sense why Sakura felt she had no connection to Soil Town! Konan and Sakura knew each other as children when Konan gave her a paper flower to symbolise their new friendship and that's why it's such a significant memory for her.

If that’s the case then…”...Maybe I'm from Rain…”

Sakura slowly opened her eyes and nearly leapt out of her skin in surprise. Standing nearby was Zetsu. They stood still as a tree at the back corner of the shack. 

“Oh Zetsu-san, I didn’t see you there…” She sighed, hand over her chest to calm her down.

Zetsu turned their head to look in her direction, their expression remained blank. Sakura looked around awkwardly, the sun setting and only the sound of bugs could be heard.

“I… I would have brought you out some dinner if I’d known you were just waiting outside.” She said, harshly rubbing her forehead in an effort to ease the tension of the headache.

“You needn’t.” Zetsu’s voice was low and breathy.

She struggled to find a topic for conversation with the teammate she had yet to really connect with. Sakura felt she could call Tobi a friend but Zetsu held themself further than arm's length.

“Where’s Tobi?” She asked.

“Food markets.” They replied after a brief pause.

With nothing to say, Sakura simply nodded. “What…What do you like to eat-”

“We needn’t talk.” Zetsu cut in. “I am uninterested in idle chatter. I do not desire companionship like you do. Pester Tobi with your words if you must. I care little whereas he cares much.” Harsh words spoken like a hiss and Sakura recoiled. Zetsu spared her nothing as they sank into the ground to disappear to who knows where.

Sakura dropped her head back against the wooden house. That was as blunt a way to say they didn’t want to be friends as it could be.

“They’re weird.” Kangae’s voice was so abrupt and adorably innocent that it caught Sakura off guard. She snorted and giggled before wincing at the thumping of her head.

She sat there breathing deep breaths to ease the pain. Could she be from Rain village? Sure some things were adding up but some things weren’t. For starters Konan found her clinging to life in the wreckage of their home village that had been completely wiped out. If that’s the case then they couldn’t be from Rain. But then why were there so many connections between Konan and Rain? Could all of this be a coincidence?

“Sakura?” Said girl snapped her attention to the side to see Kiaria peeking around the side of the house. “Are you feeling any better?”

Sakura forced the pain down so she could smile and gesture the girl over. “A little,” she said. Kiaria walked along the decking that circled the shack, careful not to fall into the mud as she was wearing clean and comfortable pyjamas under a thick warm yellow robe to protect her from the cold and matching fluffy socks.

She kept her eyes glued to the tray she was carefully carrying until she set it down between them and sat down. The tray held three tea cups and Kiaria delicately held one out for Sakura.

She thanked her and took a sip, she recognised the smell and taste, “chamomile?”

Kiaria nodded, “you said chamomile tea was good for headaches, so I asked Ryota if we had any.” Her voice teetered out, she was clearly happy with herself for remembering what Sakura had taught her, but the blush pinkening her ears expressed an embarrassment at being found out.

Sakura’s eyes softened, “thank you, Kiaria.” The girl smiled to herself as Sakura took another sip of the steaming beverage.

Kiaria too took a sip of her tea and the two shared a companionable silence for a moment, listening to the rustling of leaves in the chill air and the buzzing of bugs in the air only visible near the street lights and lanterns hanging from houses.

“There was… something I wanted to ask you…” Sakura looked down as Kiaria plucked the piece of chakra paper that lay atop the tray and cupped the scrap in the hands that lay on her lap.

“I’m still… not getting it. I can’t feel my chakra. You say to focus on it but I can’t…” She trailed off, voice as week as her grip.

Kangae shuffled over to Kiaria’s lap and snuggled to sit between her forearms. “Maybe you need sleep. I know I do better after a good nap.” Kiaria’s smile was faint as she moved to stroke the raven's head with gentle fingers.

“That’s a very good idea, Kangae.” Sakura said as she rested her cup in her lap.

Kiaria looked to meet Sakura's eyes, wordless asking for an explanation that would comfort her with its logic. Sakura shifted her body to face the girl better.

“Think of it like this Kiaria. A lot of things are happening in your body that you usually can't feel until you focus on them. You’re blinking without realising it until you do, you’re breathing without trying because your body will never stop, and your blood is pumping without you noticing until you feel it.”

She put a hand to her own chest, “when you’re just waking up, you’re just coming out of a state of unconsciousness and back into consciousness. I find in those moments you’re coming back into yourself, you're at the point where you’re most susceptible to feel how your body is working without any distractions. You’re breathing, your heartbeat, they sound louder - they feel stronger. Your chakra system is just another function your body is unconsciously performing at all times, so when you wake up then you should be able to focus on it easier - feel it there. Once you can single it out, focusing it to a body part will come to you as easy as breathing.”

Sakura places a hand on Kiaria’s head and gently pet her, her fluffy hair bouncing from the contact. Kiaria’s expression warmed into a smile. The pinch of the chill air pinkening her cheeks.

She looked at Kangae snuggling into her hand and nodded, gently whispering “okay… thank you.”

“Whatcha doing?” Sakura and Kiaria nearly jumped as they were so consumed by their conversation that they failed to notice Tobi arrived and came to stand in front of them. He cocked his head at Kiaria, “and shouldn’t you be in bed by now little missy? Not gonna be any good with that chakra paper if you’re sleep deprived.” He shrugged and shook his head in an exaggerated motion.

Kiaria pulled herself from her surprise quickly, she placed the chakra paper back on the tray and picked up another cup of tea. She held it up wordlessly for the man. He remained motionless and Kiaria pursed her lips.

“Here,” she said, “this is for you.”

Tobi made no move for a long moment, before he accepted the tea. 

Kiaria cupped Kangae in her hands, she brought him up to deposit a little kiss atop his head, “thank you for the advice, Kangae.” He twittered happily in response and went happily as she handed him over to sit comfortably in Sakura’s open waiting hand. Kiaria took the paper from the tray and rose to her feet.

She bowed, “I hope you have a good night’s sleep,” and hurried as fast as she could with fluffy socks on a wooden deck with the threat of falling in mud below. The two teammates and raven soon head the door slide shut behind her.

Sakura placed Kangae on her lap and smiled up at Tobi, she could smell his tea.

“It’s rosemary,” he said, Sakura nodded.

“How kind of her.” Sakura said. She too had remembered Tobi mentioning he used to drink the tea to help an eye condition so Kiaria had specifically asked for a cup for the man despite not getting along with him well for the majority of their journey.

The mask obscured Tobi’s face so Sakura couldn’t tell how he felt about the kind gesture, she hoped he was touched.

He came to sit where the young girl once did, he held the tea cup in his lap. Sakura allowed him the silence and listened to the night air. Her headache was nearly gone now, just a dull thumping like it was rooms away.

She blinked into her cup, scratching Kangae’s back.

Tobi’s thumb was idly stroking the lip of his teacup as Sakura chose to speak. “I… I had another headache.” She considered him a friend, and he said how he wanted to know when she was hurting.

“Oh? What happened? Did you remember something?” He asked, shifting his body back so he could cross his legs and lean his body against the house.

Sakura bit her lip, the more she rolled the thoughts she had and the connection she might be making the more uncertain she seemed.

“I… Ah… I just… I think Konan-chan and I might be from Rain… Because I remember we had paper flowers when we were kids, and Kiaria told me that they carry a special significance in Rain.” Sakura trailed off, more uncertain now she’d said it out loud..

Tobi hummed. “You don’t sound very confident.”

Sakura shook her head, “I’m not. It’s just… There's some connections there but I don’t know enough to tell.”

“Why not ask Konan?” She blinked and looked back at him.

Tobi shrugged, “what’s the worst thing that can happen? We’re gonna be back at the base by tomorrow so after you’ve worked on Kisame and Itachi and when you have a free second, why not ask her?”

Sakura looked out with unfocused eyes for a quiet moment. That was true, why couldn’t she just ask Konan where they were from? What was stopping her?

Sakura nodded to herself, “I think I will, I’ll ask her. Thanks Tobi.” She looked back and the man was lowering the cup, shifting his mask back in place like he was simply adjusting it, but the cup was empty. She smiled.

❀

Shiori returns with the morning sun at his back and storage scrolls in a bag slung on his shoulder.

Nakaya was happy to present Sakura the bag and its contents for examination and she was blown away by the quality of the equipment she was being given. Shiori had given her at least one of everything on her list and even included a mountain of bandage wraps, multiple sheets for the examination table, and all sheets were washable meaning what would be disposable was capable of being disinfected and cleaned.

‘The quality of the equipment and products from Petrichor Centre is unbelievable…’

“Are they acceptable?” Nakaya asked, voice earnest, wholly prepared to replace the entire bag should Sakura ask.

She hurriedly shook her head, nearly disturbing Kangae from his place on her shoulder. “No! These are perfect, thank you so much!” She bowed.

“Nonsense, payment is payment.” Nakaya shook his hand and smiled, content that she was satisfied.

“We better get going then,” Tobi said from his place near the door.

Nakaya’s brow furrowed, “you wont stay for breakfast? If you’re unable then I completely understand however-”

“Sakura!” Kiaria’s voice could be heard before her footsteps rapidly came to the main room. She was in her pyjamas, curly hair completely arrayed but her eyes wide and elated. She skidded in her socks, nearly barrelling into the medic who caught her by the arms and helped stabilise her.

“Woah, Kiaria what is it?” She asked and the girl held up her cupped hands.

“Look!” Sakura did, though she had to pull the girl's arms down as she had shoved them too close to her face for her to see what she held. She looked and saw the remaining corner of what was the chakra paper turning into rubble. Now all the beaming girl held was a tiny handful of dust rapidly crumbling away.

Sakura’s expression soon matched Kiaria’s as the girl joyously declared, “I’ve got an earth type chakra affinity!”

Sakura clapped and hugged Kiaria who felt like her excitement was causing her to vibrate nearly out of her skin. “That’s fantastic! I knew you could do it.”

“Tobi never doubted you for a second,” Tobi put his arms on his hips and nodded his head resolutely. Kiaria scoffed when Sakura let her go but her eyes were fond when she looked at the man and her smile couldn’t be diminished.

“Good job Lady Kiaria, why don’t we save that?” Ryota said as he held up a little glass jar, where he got it Sakura didn’t know. Kiaria beamed as she carefully poured the remains of the chakra paper and proof of her efforts and achievement into the tiny glass jar. Sakura knew she was going to cherish it.

Kiaria soon noticed Sakura’s cloak was wrapped up and sitting on the table by her was the bag of scrolls she had accepted as payment.

“Are… Are you leaving now?” She asked.

Sakura nodded, “I’m afraid so, I’ve got patients who need me and I know you’re going to be kept in safe hands.” Ryota nodded.

Kiaria looked upset for a second before seeming to realise something, an energy bouncing her on her heels. “Oh! Would you wait? Just a moment!” She sped from the room, footsteps hurrying down the hall.

She skidded back in the room and held tight against her chest were two large thick books, their weight causing her little arms to shake. “Here, these are for you.” Her body hunched under the weight.

Sakura took them easily and read the titles, “The Encyclopaedia of Sharks, and The Biology of Sharks and Rays?”

Kiaria nodded, “you asked if I knew about sharks, well these have everything I know about them. Please accept these books as my thank you for saving me.”

Sakura felt beyond touched, she carefully put the books on the table and hugged the girl. Kiaria happily fell into her arms and held her. “I’m going to miss you…” Kiaria muttered.

“Me too. But you’re going to be okay.” Sakura said as they pulled away.

“I’m going to be okay,” Kiaria smiled.

Sakura sealed the books safely in a storage scroll, intent to start reading one the second she could so she could learn everything she could in preparation for whatever Kisame’s biology could throw at her.
She and Tobi waved as they began to leave the village. The two tall butlers stood suited up and impeccable on each side of the old man with weariness in his bones but a smile on his face, and Kiaria’s small form refusing to stop waving as energetically as she could - all restraint thrown out in favour of a childish eagerness.

As Sakura turned to face the road ahead, already reaching to summon the shark encyclopaedia and begin her deep reading research, she couldn’t hear what the young girl asked her grandfather as she watched the hat tassels around the pinkettes head flutter in the wind.

“Grandfather, when we move into the Petrichor Centre’s residential wing… Do you think they’ll have a library? For the medics?”

Nakaya chuckled, familiar with the sound of his granddaughter gaining a new obsession. “I’m sure we can ask.”