Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shine A Light ❯ A Measure of Comfort ( Chapter 1 )

[OH MY LAWD IT'S NARUTOFIC! … Well, yeah, it is. I never thought I'd finish a chapter or one-shot or… anything… in this fandom, but here we are. And it's finals week! :D Will wonders never cease. Um, this is just the first part of this thing; I don't know how long it'll take me to write the second part, since I tend to be a fucking perfectionist when it comes to my writing and it therefore takes me forever to write a single chapter, but I pretty much know where I'm going with this, so… rock, I guess. I'm entirely open to comments, ideas, constructive criticism—anything you guys want to throw at me. :D It's going to be a good time.]

 

 

SHINE A LIGHT

Part One: A Measure of Comfort

 

 

"Fucking hell."

 

Nara Shikamaru paused, his eyes sliding upward in the smallest of eye rolls, before turning to regard one Inuzuka Kiba, who was at the present time leaning against the dirty, peeling wall of Uzumaki Naruto's apartment building with his arms crossed over his chest. "You really didn't have to accompany me on this errand. Far from it, actually."

"Huh." Kiba shrugged, the noncommittal noise he let out clashing badly with the disgusted expression he could not seem to banish from his face. "Whatever. I had nothing better to do." He was only slightly shorter than Shikamaru but still managed to look small without Akamaru's massive bulk at his side; long gone were the days in which the Inuzuka boy could let his pet ride around on his head. "Kurenai's got some jounin mission shit goin' on, so our team's pretty much out of work for the next week or so... right, Hinata?"

The girl standing next to him nodded as she played with the drawstring of her sweatshirt, her eyes plastered firmly to the stained concrete beneath their feet. Her otherwise pale face was, as it tended to be, a disturbing shade of red. It was clear why Hyuuga Hinata was here, anyway, which was less than Shikamaru could say for the other kunoichi gracing them with her presence--Yamanaka Ino, in many ways Hinata's polar opposite, stood behind him with her hands on her hips, chiding him in that voice that had eventually made its way into his nightmares. "Come on, Shikamaru, hurry up and get this over with. I haven't had breakfast yet and Chouji and I have a mission this afternoon--"

"Are there many good places to get breakfast out in Konoha?" The fifth member of their party smiled at Ino in a way that was simultaneously warm and chilling, winning her full attention with his smooth voice and alluring eyes. "I'm afraid I haven't had a chance to look around much yet."

Right. That was why.

"Oh, plenty," Ino said cheerfully, blushing like a schoolgirl as she took Sai's arm--it was a bit less extreme than her old method of jumping onto Uchiha Sasuke's back, but this soulless carbon-copy seemed a little less eager to run away when he saw her coming. "I know a lot of restaurants in Konoha, because--well, not because I--but... you know... Chouji," she amended, sending Shikamaru another annoyed glance. "If you haven't had anything yet this morning, I'd be happy to... to show you around, if you wanted--"

"If Naruto doesn't have anything more appetizing in his apartment, I'll be sure to take you up on that offer," Sai answered warmly, making Ino titter behind her hand and avert her eyes. Shikamaru felt curiously as if he were watching a train wreck in slow motion. "It would be an excellent excuse to spend more time with you, Miss Beautiful."

"How can you even talk about eating here?" Kiba broke in, the disgust on his face rendering even more sharply on his feral features. "It smells terrible--like rust and shit and old people--how the hell does Naruto live here?"
"How has he not noticed five people stomping around outside his apartment?" Shikamaru answered, a bit more harshly than he had intended. He at least shut the others up, giving himself a few precious seconds to collect his scattered thoughts. "... None of you need to be here... really..."

"Ah, but Naruto's never been all that big on noticing stuff," Kiba said casually--too casually for so early in the morning--as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and engaged Shikamaru in one of his wolfish grins. "Except when it's necessary... like, really, really necessary... and it's not like we're out to kill him or anything--"

"I might if this gets any more troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, realizing that Naruto was the worst possible person to add to this mix on a morning that he just wanted to go home and sleep. His shoulders sagged a little as he contemplated telling the Godaime where to stick this message for the Uzumaki boy she had shovelled off on him--but no, life was a good alternative to anything she would do to him if he dared. "... I wonder if I should ring the doorbell again..."

"Yeah, it's been... like... five minutes already." Ino, having left Sai's side, had laid a casual elbow on Shikamaru's shoulder, her voice grating suddenly in his ear. He couldn't help but glance over his shoulder at the Yamanaka girl's latest crush, who smiled back at him with that same gentle, unsettling smile; he didn't necessarily have anything against Sai, despite their rocky first meeting, and he could tell from Naruto's admission that he was "less of a bastard than he was when we first met him" that the kid had gained something of value from his recent admission into Team 7. There was just something about Sai that made him uneasy, as much it annoyed him to admit it--this weird guy from some underground Konoha organization had come out of nowhere and somehow made his way into the group that had formed out of their graduating class. The really irritating thing was that Shikamaru was the only one this seemed to bother; Chouji had told him that he thought the guy was "pretty nice", and Naruto and Sakura, who of course knew him better than any of the rest of them did, seemed to have accepted him completely as a teammate, even if it was clear that neither of them thought of him as Sasuke's replacement. Ino was, of course, utterly taken with him; a little flattery from some guy who looked somewhat like Uchiha Sasuke and she was all over him.

Was that what bothered him?

Shikamaru gritted his teeth and pressed the doorbell again. There was a brief silence in which the five of them waited, straining their acute shinobi ears for any signs of life within the apartment, before Kiba let out an irritated growl and stepped forward, shoving both Shikamaru and Ino out of the way before bearing down on Naruto's front door, hitting the doorbell repeatedly with a clawed finger. "Goddamn! I'm not wasting my whole day for this idiot!"

Hinata sighed resignedly, knowing well enough not to get in Kiba's way when he was like this. Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and rubbed his arm where Kiba had pushed him while Ino began berating him with clenched fists, her blue eyes blazing--Kiba had just let up on the doorbell to return her irritation when—

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?"

Five pairs of eyes snapped to the newly opened front door and widened considerably; Hinata let out a high-pitched squeak and Ino a completely dumbfounded "Sakura--"

For it was Haruno Sakura, clad in nothing but a t-shirt and pair of shorts that were undeniably Naruto's, who had answered the door, looking as pissed as she'd ever been. Kiba, who was closest, was the first to recover, his shoulders hunching as he hid his grin behind a clawed hand, while Ino continued to gape, for once speechless, and Shikamaru regarded the Haruno girl with raised eyebrows. It was not until Hinata sunk into a dead faint, Kiba barely managing to catch her as she pitched forward, that Sakura seemed to come to terms with the situation; Shikamaru watched with some amusement as her gaze shifted from him and Kiba, smirking outright, to Hinata, beet-red and unconscious, and finally to Ino, whom had not yet regained the power to utter a full sentence. "Sa--Saku--Sakura, what--what're you--"

"How disappointing."

Sai approached Sakura with his hands in his pockets, the smile on his face the creepiest yet; Sakura didn't even attempt to smile back, her eyebrow twitching as she faced him. The raven-haired boy made to lay an arm around her shoulder, then, thinking better of it, picked a piece of lint off of the collar of Naruto's t-shirt. "You could have at least called me."

 

+

"I can't BELIEVE you!"

Ino had found her voice.

"You were always complaining about him WAY more than anyone else, even when we were in the academy, and after we graduated I still put up with your whining about him even though you were on the same team as Sasuke-kun--"

Sakura flinched a bit at this but didn't reply or even turn around; after giving Sai a sufficiently painful-looking knee in the stomach she had waved them all into Naruto's apartment--unusually casually, Shikamaru had noted, mildly curious about the whole situation despite himself--and had not given them a second glance since. She bustled around the kitchen as the five of them stood there dumbly and watched--or, rather, Ino and Shikamaru stood; Kiba, still supporting Hinata's prone frame, had pulled her over to the windowseat and let her lean against him without a second thought (he was apparently very used to the whole situation). Sai, however, had collapsed into one of the chairs at Naruto's kitchen table, his face pale and somewhat clammy. A nice-sized bruise was forming on his bare stomach--which, Shikamaru figured, was not necessarily a bad thing; perhaps the kid would start wearing some halfway normal clothes. The weirdo's state of being was not the issue at the moment, though; he cleared his throat and fingered the note in his pocket. "Sakura--"

Sakura, sending him a swift double-barrelled glare, completely ignored him thereafter; after scouring most of Naruto's cabinets and finding near to nothing but ramen, she had secured a box of cereal, a carton of milk, and a bowl--just one, as, it seemed, she was not quite up to serving them breakfast. Shikamaru's stomach growled rebelliously and he sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Sakura, listen--"

"What were you thinking, anyway?" Ino interrupted him, stomping over to Sakura and grabbing her arm. The pink-haired girl yanked it promptly out of the other kunoichi's reach and, taking her bowl of cereal and a spoon from a haphazard pile of mostly clean dishes next to the sink, turned to leave. Ino, refusing to be ignored, was right on her tail. Kiba and Shikamaru, upon exchanging semi-amused glances, gathered their respective charges (Shikamaru was left pulling Sai unceremoniously to his feet) and followed them into the living room. "I mean--I mean, it's him--and what about all those times we got together to have lunch and complain about not having boyfriends?" Ino stopped in her tracks, glaring at Sakura's orange back in betrayal. "This whole time--"
"What whole time?" Sakura snarled, whirling around suddenly to glare at them (it was the word 'boyfriend', Shikamaru thought musingly, that seemed to have got to her). "He's right there. On the couch."

Ino stared blankly at Sakura for a moment before looking over her shoulder; Kiba, Shikamaru, and Sai followed suit, the former letting out a barking laugh as he did so. "Well, would you look at that."

Uzumaki Naruto was, indeed, curled up on the couch under an orange-and-blue comforter with a massive scrawly spiral on it; the only visible parts of the boy were his shock of spiky blond hair, his eyes (still closed in blissful slumber, somehow), and a stray leg which had fallen over the side of the couch. The only proper adjective to describe his current state was a word that Shikamaru took care never to use in conversation, which began with an 'a' and ended with an 'e' and had a 'dorabl' somewhere in between--the significance of which seemed to have hit Ino, judging by the pink of her cheeks and the way she stood motionless in front of the sofa. "... Oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh'," Sakura said testily, giving a glare that would rival Sasuke's on his worst day to the back of Ino's head. "What are you all doing here, by the way?"

Shikamaru sighed, fishing the note out of his pocket. Finally. "Here. The Godaime sent this for him."

Sakura took the folded slip of paper from him, looking at it curiously before setting it down on the table next to her cereal. "What's it for?"

"Don't know. Didn't ask." Shikamaru scratched the back of his head, mildly annoyed. It probably wasn't even important--his whole morning had been ruined for nothing. "Naruto's always getting called into her office--could be anything."

Sakura smiled (and Shikamaru couldn't help but notice the softening of her eyes or the slight flush to her cheeks as she did so). "That's true. ... So why are the rest of them here?"

Shikamaru turned to the others disinterestedly. "Well?"

Kiba laughed again, setting Hinata on the ground to lean against the couch before sinking into a sitting position next to her. "Fuck if I know."

Ino started, looking uneasily at Shikamaru before turning to smile prettily at Sai (who was staring at Naruto with the blankest look Shikamaru had ever seen on his face). "I thought Sai could use some civilized company."
"And I don't even have to ask why you're here." Sakura looked exasperatedly at Sai. "Doesn't ROOTS want you back yet?"

Sai, snapping fluidly out of his reverie, slipped his old smile back on as he turned to look at her. "You're so cold, Sakura."

"... Whatever." Sakura took her head in her hands, looking as exhausted as Shikamaru felt. "It's early."

"... So." Kiba was smirking all-too-innocently at Naruto's sleeping form. "Should we wake him up or what?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "You really are bored, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah, I guess." Kiba bared his unusually sharp teeth in a snicker. "It's been a while since I've gotten to fuck with him, you know?"

"Fuck with who?"

Kiba blanched; as he was turning his head to glance over his shoulder Naruto's hand came out of nowhere and slammed his face into the hardwood floor. With a muffled snarl Kiba freed himself and glared at the offending shinobi, who had at this point sat up, running a hand through his tousled hair and generally looking half-asleep. "What the fuck, Naruto? That was a cheap shot!"

"Yeah, and what were you gonna do to me?" He saw past Kiba to the rest of them and frowned, his eyes still half-closed. "What the hell are you all doing in my apartment?"

"We were--umm--running an errand." This was Ino--who, to Shikamaru's vague horror, was blushing at Naruto in an annoyingly familiar way, her hands clasped behind her back in a simpering parody of the genin kunoichi she had once been. Perhaps it was because she now had reason to rekindle her rivalry with Sakura, which had gone into a bit of a lull since Sasuke had left Konoha and Sakura started training with the Godaime, or perhaps because Naruto was wearing a definite nothing on his upper half aside from that peculiar necklace (the comforter was was still bunched around his waist, so the rest of him was yet to be seen). All the same Shikamaru could not help but feel a biting annoyance and, to a lesser extent, frustration at his female teammate's... promiscuity? No, that wasn't the right word; she just really, really liked boys, that was all. Even Naruto...

Too bad Naruto was still earthshatteringly clueless, about girls and most other things. "An errand, huh? So why are there..." His eyes swept the room again. "... Five people here just to run an errand? Wasn't the old hag just complaining about the lack of shinobi she had?"

Kiba's nose wrinkled. "Five people? Dontcha mean--"

"And why's Hinata unconscious?" Kiba had been interrupted by the bulk of Naruto's weight pressing him into the ground as the boy leaned over him to look curiously at the Hyuuga girl on his other side, now beginning to stir.

Shikamaru, seeing this, sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his head. "Get away, Naruto."

Naruto stared at him. "What?"

"EEEEK!!"

Hinata had taken that moment to come to--and Shikamaru, remembering how Hinata never failed to dither and turn all shades of red whenever Naruto so much as said a word to her, realized that waking up to a shirtless Naruto looking at her from about three inches away, although not entirely unwelcome, would be enough of a shock to induce heart failure.

Hinata might have been having a worse day than he was.

Naruto frowned at her, genuinely confused as to why she was hyperventilating and scrambing backwards across the floor. "Hinata? What's wrong?"

Kiba threw him off, practically growling with exasperation. "Get the fuck off, Naruto--oh, hell--"

Naruto, thrown back into the couch, glowered at the Inuzuka boy with righteous indignation. "What the hell's your problem, Kiba? I was just concerned--"

"THEN PUT A GODDAMN SHIRT ON."

This from Sakura--who had, once again, managed to silence the rest of them with her dulcet tones. Kiba and Hinata stared, Ino glared at Sakura as if betrayed--this time for an entirely different reason--and Sai's effeminate lips were arranged into a slight pout, as if he were trying to figure out something that displeased him. Naruto, however, had gone pale under his tanned skin, staring at the Haruno girl as if she had sprouted an extra head. "Sa--Sakura-chan--"

And all of a sudden he was at her side, in a flash of movement that none of them could admit to have seen. Shikamaru noted that the blond was, in fact, somewhat clothed--in a pair of sweatpants that had settled far too low on his hips. He was determined not to gauge Ino's reaction. Naruto took one look at Sakura's face (still livid, although admittedly confused), then turned to the rest of them. He seemed almost to have stepped in front of Sakura, shielding her from view. "You guys all have to leave."

Ino stared at him. "What?"

"Umm... something came up. Sorry." Naruto was starting to sound panicky. "Please?"

Shikamaru shrugged and turned away. Something was obviously going on with the two of them--and the occasional spark of curiosity that hit him was overwhelmingly drowned out by the feeling that it wasn't his problem. "Fine with me. You'll give him that thing, right, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded wordlessly, frowning at the back of Naruto's head.

And before any of them really knew what had happened they were standing outside of Naruto's apartment again, stunned at the abruptness with which they had been kicked out. Kiba, standing roughly in the same spot he had occupied before they had been let in, turned to the rest of them with an expression of pure bewilderment on his face. "All right, what the fuck was that?"

Shikamaru shrugged.

"So..." Ino twirled a strand of blonde hair around her finger, a thoughtful look on her face. "So I guess they're not together. Since... you know. And..." She bit back a coquettish laugh. "Naruto and Sakura? What was I thinking?"

"Well, I don't know." Ino looked incredulously at Shikamaru. He looked away.

"... What are you talking about?"

"If he slept on the couch she must have slept in his bed." Ino continued to stare at him and Shikamaru ran a hand through his hair, a little unnerved. He didn't know why he was saying any of this. What did he care? "And she was wearing his clothes. That was pretty obvious."

Ino was beginning to frown, her eyes now trained on the ground. "But... we don't know if she slept over there or not..."

Shikamaru shrugged again, already bored with this conversation. Naruto and Sakura could do whatever they wanted--Ino, he thought with a sudden rush of irritation, had to accept that. "That's true, too. It's not like I'm opposing you, all right? Go ahead and ask him out if you want to."

Kiba bit back a derisive laugh, eyeing the Yamanaka girl with a new amusement. Shikamaru glanced at him with distaste and Ino pure resentment; they had both forgotten he was there. "Shit, Ino, you like Naruto?"
"I do not--I--of course I don't!" Ino exploded, her pale skin a red deserving of Hinata--had Hinata not been standing a little away from the rest, hands folded and pale eyes cloudy as they regarded the floor. "That loser--he and Sakura deserve each other!"

With this she spun on her heel and stomped off, long blonde ponytail streaming out behind her like a banner. Hinata watched her indecisively for a moment, torn as to what she wanted to do, before taking off after the Yamanaka girl with her head down and her shoulders squared, nervous but determined. Shikamaru stared moodily at the floor as they vanished out of his peripheral vision; he could not say precisely why, but this day had taken an ugly turn. Even if he were to go home, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to fall asleep.

"... Hey."

Shikamaru glanced at Kiba, who was looking back at him with an uncharacteristically glum look on his face. "Yeah?"

"You really think Ino's got a thing for Naruto now? I mean... he's about as thick as they come, so it's not like it'll come to anything, but he's got all three of them interested in him now, right? Kind of sucks."

Shikamaru didn't care. "I guess."

Kiba shrugged and stretched lazily, yawning; his long canines glinted in the early-morning sunlight as it peeked over the horizon. "... Yeah, well. I got better things to do than hang around this hellhole... still smells fucking terrible." He sniffed, rolling his eyes in brief distaste, before turning to go. "See you later, I guess."

Shikamaru turned in the opposite direction, rubbing the back of his head as he did so. Something told him that this morning was not going to let him go. Something had happened, or was going to happen--it was going to require some analysis, whether he wanted it to or not. "Mm."

"And... you know... Ino would laugh if she knew you were worried about her."

Shikamaru stumbled, almost looked back but thought better of it--he could not completely banish the slight smirk that came across his face even as it cut a shadow across his heart. ... Worried?

Hell, I'd laugh at me, too.

 

+

 

Naruto, having had to practically shove Kiba out the door, leaned against it with a bemused sigh, running his hand through his tousled hair. Sakura stood in the doorway to the kitchen, watching him warily; Naruto, despite the nonchalant way in which he had received their friends, ordinarily would have been thrilled to have so many people in his apartment; it was not a privilege he had had too many opportunities to enjoy. Something was up, and apparently it had to do with her, although she couldn't possibly see... "... Naruto? What--"

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"

His voice was surprisingly tender. All of Ino's squawking came rushing back and Sakura had to look away; she could not say why, but it suddenly felt so awkward to be alone with Naruto in his apartment. "... Yeah, I'm... I'm fine, but..." She looked up at him again, frowning. "Why did you send them out like that? I mean, it's not like I wanted them to stay, but--"

"Won't your parents be looking for you?"

His voice was so quiet, and suddenly everything made sense.

"I..." She swallowed hard, still avoiding his gaze, and turned to walk back into the living room. She hadn't touched her breakfast. "I suppose... but... there's no reason they'd contact those guys..."

She saw Naruto scratch the back of his head out of the corner of her eye. He still looked troubled. "But if they go to the old hag, then--"

"They wouldn't just... sell me out like that," Sakura interrupted him, nonetheless feeling troubled; she hadn't exactly explained why she was at Naruto's in the first place, and she had somewhat failed to be polite to them as well... "I know they're like that, but they're still... you know... our friends." (She knew this would cheer him up; she saw him trying to stifle a smile as she took a seat across from the coffee table.) "They'd ask me what was going on if they heard anything."

"What about, pray tell?"

The silken voice made both of them jump; Sakura scowled upon seeing Sai leaning against the doorframe to Naruto's bedroom, smiling indulgently at her. She hadn't even noticed that he was still in the apartment--asshole or not, he was a damn good ninja.

Naruto stomped into the living room, glaring daggers at him. "Why are you still here?"

"Mmm..." Sai tapped his lip with a solitary finger in a facsimile of thoughtfulness, giving Naruto what he obviously thought was a meaningful look. "I suppose you could say I didn't want to leave."

"Yeah, well, I'm telling you to, bastard; leave," Naruto spat, crossing his arms over his chest--almost defensively, Sakura noted with surprise, if she was reading the peculiar hunch to his shoulders correctly. But Naruto--?

"How cruel, Naruto," Sai said languidly, his pout barely managing to mask the pleasure he invariably got from baiting Naruto; they had assumed that, Sakura thought wearily, he had really changed for good after their ill-fated mission to retrieve Sasuke, but as it turned out the real Sai was more similar to the one that they had both met and initially disliked on that day about a month ago. And although he truly had changed--it was clear, at least to Sakura, that he really did care about the two of them and wanted to pursue friendships with them--he could not seem to resist pushing Naruto's very accessible buttons whenever humanly possible. It was usually annoying at worst, but this morning...

Sakura turned away. "Leave him alone, Sai."

Her back was to them; she missed the concerned looks that both boys sent her. Sai raised his eyebrows inquisitively at Naruto, who merely scowled at him again and brushed past him to rejoin Sakura across the room. "Sakura-chan, I was... umm... I was meaning to ask you..."

Sakura said nothing, focusing her attention on her breakfast.

"I mean... it's okay if you don't want to talk about it or something, 'cause I'd be cool with that, too, but I was just... I was just wondering..."

"You want to know why I left home last night," Sakura said quietly, her eyes still on her cereal. She wasn't entirely sure that she would be able to meet Naruto's gaze.

"Well... well, yeah, but..." His voice softened. "Why did you come here?"

Sakura stared at the table for a moment, then looked up at him apruptly, the very image of a deer caught in the headlights. "... That's..."

They looked at one other for a moment, two moments--neither one of them would be able to say how long they held each other's gaze before Sai gave a short, mild cough and sat down next to Sakura on the couch; Naruto came out of his reverie with a start and Sakura hunched over her cereal, her hair covering her face. Sai happened to glance her way; it was difficult to tell through the sheet of rose-pink hair, but her face seemed to have adopted the very same hue. "... Well. I'm hungry, and I never did get any breakfast..." He looked longingly at Sakura's cereal, then up at Naruto, his lips forming effortlessly into an exquisite pout.

Naruto gave him his worst look (or what he could muster of it so early in the morning). "I'm not feeding you."

Sai's pout deepened. "So cruel, Naruto..."

Sakura barely heard their squabbling; her head still inclined, obscuring both her face and her vision, she attempted to reason with herself. Last night seemed so far away; she could no longer recall the blinding rage that had consumed her nor the thought process that had led her to stand outside of Naruto's front door in the freezing rain, but one thing was clear: she had obviously come to him because he was her teammate--as the two remaining members of the original Team 7, they had to stick together. And Naruto, she reasoned, was good at this sort of thing. He wasn't the sharpest shinobi around, but he felt empathy more strongly than anyone she had ever met--she could not imagine him faking a reaction to anyone's plight, much less hers.

And as it turned out, he had become one of her closest friends--her closest friend, in fact, the one person she felt she could always turn to—

Her muscles tightened and she nipped that train of thought in the bud, dismissing it as obvious. Of course she could always count on Naruto. Everyone could always count on Naruto.

Even that one time, she reminded herself, that one time that he had let her down she hadn't lost faith in him; she had never stopped believing that one day he would fulfill that promise he had made to her—

"Sakura-chan?"

She found herself looking up, almost drowsily; Naruto had again transferred his attention to her, his arms crossed over his chest and his face a perplexing mix of confusion and hesitation. He would want his questions answered, of course, but right now... right now she felt threatened by his sympathy, closed-in by his concern--what she needed, right that moment, was to get the fuck out of this apartment. "... Naruto."

He cocked his head at her. "Yeah?"

"I'm... I'm going to go out. I think I need some fresh air." She got to her feet, avoiding Sai's probing stare and shoving Tsunade's message into Naruto's hand. "Here. Shikamaru left this for you."

"... Oh." He fumbled to open it, still watching her. "Your clothes should be dry, if you want 'em... I think they're hanging in my room..."

Sakura stopped short, recalling with a flash her father's angry face. "... Yeah. Thanks." Her mother struggling to hide her tears. "I... I might be back later... if that's all right."

 

"Oh... oh, yeah! Sure!" She didn't have to look at him to know his face was split in a toothy grin. "You can come whenever you need to, Sakura-chan."

"... Thanks." She slipped into his room and closed the door, shutting out the noise from another of Sai and Naruto's arguments as she laid her fingers upon her skirt, hanging with the tank top she had been wearing yesterday in a dusky corner. They were still the slightest bit damp.

You are a coward, Haruno Sakura.