Day 44: Lunch

[mizuhomaiden.livejournal.com]

That had been a very frustrating shower. For many reasons. At least Raine was going to at least look at Forte. Hopefully, she'll actually heal him. The showers had also succeeded in making the ninja feel like a pervert. A mild one, but still... It was as if Yukari had picked that spot in the showers because she knew the ninja could easily see her.

Ugh! Damn youkai.

Squirreling herself away in a corner of the cafeteria, Sheena finger combed her wet hair before pulling it back with the bright red ribbon. She so needed her own hair ribbon back. She was attempting to formulate her plan of acquisition - she was ninja after all - as people started trickling into the room. The plan was put on pause, though, when her stomach rumbled.

Food now - plan later.

[Closed to Haseo and Endrance]

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[lostonlifesroad.livejournal.com]

Sakura saw what Kakashi wanted her to see, at least on the surface. It was true that all the injuries he'd suffered (and that Obito had suffered) were gone come morning. But the emotional scars were still there, lurking underneath a friendly smile that was as much a mask as the one Kakashi physically wore.

"About you, Sakura." Kakashi conveniently ignored the look he got for his excuse. He knew that certain erotic things were just as appealing for her as they were for him, but it wouldn't do much good to point that out. Especially since there were no scenes of that sort in Kakashi's novel to conveniently prove his point. "You said on the bulletin that you'd been frustrated lately. I wanted to see what I could do about that."

From an outsider's perspective, the jounin's priorities might have been questionable. Of all the ninja, Sakura had suffered the least of their prison's horrors: she hadn't died or been visited that Kakashi knew of, nor had she been brainwashed or experimented on. Yet that made Sakura invaluable in her own way, as someone who still could maintain her own stability. Kakashi would work with each of the ninja as best he could, but he also knew he couldn't be their sole source of strength. They had to rely on themselves and each other, and as it was, Sakura was the closest to being able to maintain that--so long as too many little things didn't weigh down on her.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

He wanted to fix all the problems? Geez, where did she even start?! Thinking of all the things that were pissing her off right now was a sure way to get her in a bad mood and- gah! She just didn't want to think about any of it! At the same time, she couldn't stand to keep it bottled up either. Dammit!

She gave a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. It still felt weird not having her headband. "There's about a million things to be frustrated about. Naruto flaking out, Sasuke-kun being... Sasuke-kun, I haven't seen Jiraiya-sama in days -not that I want to- and I just watched Sai running around with a lunch tray for no reason. Not to mention all the stuff that happened last night to you and Shikamaru. It's like, the worst possible situation."

While she didn't often open up to her sensei with every little problem, it wasn't like she had many others to listen to her. And maybe she was exaggerating just a little. They'd been in pretty bad scrapes before and maybe there were some good things about this place, but it still sucked big time.

"I want to fix-" she started, but corrected herself. "I want to help everyone. But they're either too busy hiding their injuries or too concerned with other things to even ask for help."

[lostonlifesroad.livejournal.com]

Fixing all of their problems, or even all of Sakura's problems, was impossible, and Kakashi knew it. But even listening would be a start, and it was a good thing he had. Sakura noticed the same things Kakashi noticed, and all of it amounted to a well-intentioned but incorrect attempt at teamwork. Each individual (with the exception of Sasuke, though that wasn't anything new) thought he was helping the group in their own way. Even Kakashi was guilty of it, though he'd always been a private person.

And all of it took its toll.

"I saw Jiraiya-sama last shift, in the showers. He's the one who gave me the book. And he seems to be doing relatively well." For having been brainwashed the night before, at least. "He's uninjured, so you don't have to worry about that. As for the rest of us." Kakashi let out a small sigh, wondering where to even start. "You already know that there's no physical injuries left over from last night's events. I know that doesn't mean much in terms of what happened," Nothing much, or nothing at all, in Kakashi's case, "but at least you don't have to worry about healing us."

"You're right though. Everyone is trying so hard to be strong individually that we're forgetting we can rely on each other." Kakashi himself was guilty of it, though he didn't think it was a habit that would change so easily for him. Hypocritical, but he wasn't exactly used to breaking down in front of anyone. "Maybe you should remind everyone that they should ask? We both know that won't work all the time, but I think that Sai and Naruto at least would listen to you."

"As for Shikamaru and Sasuke...could you trust me with them for a little while, Sakura?" Shikamaru would be an easy enough yes, but Sasuke was a different story. Sakura had never stopped loving the Uchiha, even after he'd abandoned their village for the sound. She was just as determined to bring Sasuke back as Naruto was. "I'd planned on talking to Shikamaru soon anyway. As for Sasuke--he's going through something very difficult right now. I know you want to help, but you know what he's like. The more you try to convince him, the more he pulls away. I'm not saying to ignore him completely, because I don't want you to do that, and I know you wouldn't, even if someone ordered you to. But I think that if you're patient, and you don't pry too much, that Sasuke might open up to you on his own."

"I know it's hard when you want to fix everything. But there are times when ninja have to be subtle instead of direct." Kakashi offered Sakura a smile from behind his mask. "Everything will be okay. Even if things seem bad for a long time, we'll find a way to make them right."

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Even though she knew Kakashi was listening and she knew his advice did sort of make sense, it was hard to trust him completely. The last time he'd asked her to let him handle it, Sasuke had left their village in search of revenge. Her eyes trailed down to the paper flower she'd made last shift with Hanatarou. She'd thought about just leaving it at Sasuke's room, just so he knew someone was thinking about him, but... looking at it now, it wasn't as if it was all that pretty, or even something he could look at. It was probably better off in the trash.

Asking her to trust him on that was pretty big. She knew she'd interrupted something last night, though exactly what it was, she had a feeling that neither Kakashi nor Sasuke would be sharing it anytime soon. It was just the same as hiding injuries and it pissed her off. Didn't they trust her too? It went both ways, didn't it?

"I'll talk to Sai and Naruto then and see if they'll come with me to look for medical texts," she said, preferring to focus on the things she actually had some control over. "I met another patient here who has some information on what's already available in the pharmacy, so if I can get that, I should be able to start working on some useful antidotes or at least some things to help with all the injuries people seem to get here."

Kakashi was right about that though. Sai and Naruto were both pretty reliable. Even in this crazy place. And no matter what their goal ended up being, having access to medical supplies and information was going to help immensely.

The last part though, she took a good long while thinking on. Silence wouldn't help, and Sakura usually preferred to state her opinion, especially now that she'd grown up in enough ways that it mattered a little more.

"I'll try my best to trust that," she said seriously, "but you have to promise me too, that the moment there's something I can do to help, you'll let me. Okay?" She was already sure that Sasuke wasn't beyond redemption. What happened in town was... confusing, but even if it was a reflex, he'd protected her. Though it was hard to forget just how angry he'd been last night.

[lostonlifesroad.livejournal.com]

Kakashi patiently waited each time Sakura fell into silence, giving the girl however much time she needed to think. It would've helped pass the time if he could read a few pages of his book, but opening it now probably wouldn't send the right message to the ninja, as much as he may want to indulge. He also could've asked about the flower; Kakashi thought she'd done a good job, but Sakura apparently disagreed, if her expression was any indication. It wasn't hard to guess just who it was for, or should be for. But before the jounin could ask, Sakura began making her opinions known.

And Kakashi was more than a little happy to hear them.

She'd started with what she could still do first, and Kakashi nodded in agreement with her plan. "That sounds like a good start. I'm going to find Shikamaru next shift anyway; I was thinking that we need to reaffirm our goals and our teams. But unless something drastic happens, that should work for tonight."

What came next had to be significantly harder for the kunoichi, but Sakura surprised Kakashi a bit by handling the situation perfectly. She didn't protest despite how much Kakashi knew she would want to, and she didn't cry or fall apart like she might have only a few years ago. Tsunade-sama would've been proud to hear her words, just as Kakashi was.

"I promise, Sakura." It was an easy promise to make, since that had been the jounin's plan all along. He'd offered his silence to get Sasuke to trust him, but even the Uchiha knew that Kakashi wouldn't hold on to it forever. Particularly not when it began to affect the Leaf-nin, as it no doubt would, given their penchant for worrying over Sasuke. "And thank you. Talking to you like this reminds me just how much you've grown up, and how reliable you are. I know I can count on you."