44Stage 1: Forest Level
"Doctor, a message from her Imperial Majesty. The Emperor has a headache and refuses to meet with the nobles. They've livid," the maid reported, holding her tray tight against her chest. She leaned in through the doorway, polished shoes shifting as she waited for a response.
Sakura glanced up from her notes. She let out a sigh, lifting her glasses on top of her head. Her assistant gave a sympathetic sort of grimace to the maid before he finished tying the curtains back.
Sakura rubbed the inner corners of her eyes as she thought. She turned her head to say, "Some pennyroyal tea, then. Do we have any of the dried leaves left?"
Her assistant crossed the room to open up one of the glass cabinet doors. He plucked a jar from the shelf to peer into it.
"Just enough."
"Excellent. Let's get some water boiling."
Several minutes later, Sakura sent her assistant out with a pot of the still-steaming tea. The maid held the door open for him.
"Don't spill any!" she called after the boy. She watched him run down the hall until he turned the corner. And then she shut the door. With a moment of peace, she could finally read the mail that had arrived earlier that morning.
Ever since she had taken on the role as the imperial physician, the letters had started pouring in. Nobles asking for favors. The frantic doctors of those nobles asking for advice. The amount of diplomacy involved in her job had surprised her. But she didn't dislike it.
Another knock on the door interrupted her. The pen rolled free from her fingers as she got out of her seat. She dusted off the front of her dress before she answered, a neutral smile on her lips.
"Hello." The greeting slipped out of her mouth more out of habit than anything.
A shifter stared back at her, big sapphire eyes gleaming. He wasn't a stranger- not that that made his intrusion any less unwelcome. She remembered his name. As simple as the inside of his head: Naruto. He smiled, pointed teeth showing.
A surly-looking man peered over the shifter's shoulder at her, his black hair wavering like a candle flame. He raised a hand in greeting.
Sakura slammed the door in both their faces.
"Whew, for a second, I thought I wasn't going to have a good, normal day," she remarked to no one. And then she felt a breeze on her back. Which would have been nice had she not remembered locking the windows earlier that morning. She turned around, eyes already rolling.
Kakashi sat on the windowsill. As he raised his hand, a lockpick dangled between his fingers. The metal tools jangled together when he wiggle his hand in a silly wave.
Hands on her hips, Sakura glowered at him. He smiled.
Shaking her head, Sakura opened the door to let the other two in. The shifter strolled in first, sniffing at the smell of herbs that always lingered in her office.
"Woah! Look at you, Miss Fancy!" he exclaimed. He went for a hug, which she dodged.
The man who followed him into the room at least had the decency to shut the door. He turned to Sakura and held out his hand. Palm glowing slightly. Like the rest of him.
"Hey," was all he said. But at least it was a real greeting.
"Hi, Sasuke," she sighed, She shook his hand. Then she glared harder, arms folding across her chest.
"What're you doing here?" Sakura asked. Mostly to Sasuke, but also to the others.
"Can you come adventuring with us?" Sasuke requested without hesitation. She heard Kakashi sigh from the window, "Kid, we talked about easing her into it."
"Sorry," replied Sasuke without sounding sorry at all.
And Sakura had trouble processing the question because noises started up behind her. The irritating, fumbling kind. Papers rustling, the books on her shelf thumping together. And then her desk chair scraping across the floor.
"Naruto!" she barked, still staring at Sasuke. The rattling stopped.
"Quit digging through my drawers. How many times do I have to tell you that you can't just go around breaking people's pots and digging through their crap!" she scolded.
Naruto's pointed ears drooped as he set the ceramic jar back down on her desk.
"But there could be gold in them. You never know, Sakura," he sulked.
She threw them out of her office. She was 90% certain that the door hit Naruto on his way out. When she heard metallic clicking, she leaned against the door to call, "And if you try to break back in, Kakashi, I'll summon an insect plague directly into your mouth."
The clicking stopped.
A few months passed. The short summer season came and went in the blink of an eye. The empress gave birth to a healthy baby boy, which was cause for celebration. The empress had lost a great deal of blood throughout the ordeal, but Sakura had managed to stabilize her. That had won even more of the emperor's favor. Gold, praises, whatever she wanted.
But even with the high spirits inside the palace, Sakura began to hear unsettling rumors. Sickness in the villages in the south. An entire city that was abandoned overnight. Great swathes of crops rotting before the harvest.
Sakura understood that these weren't the sorts of things she was paid to think about. That didn't stop her from sending a letter home. She couldn't help but worry. Maybe it would be better for her family to move north, which seemed safer at the moment.
Heavy thumping at the door interrupted her thoughts. Her assistant had been nodding off in the corner and jolted awake with a snort. She pushed him back onto the stool as she got out of her chair to pull the handle. She blinked a few times as she took in Naruto and Sasuke leaning against each other.
Naruto grinned. Blood coated his pointed teeth.
"Heya there, Sakura!" Naruto greeted her, waving his arm. Well, the arm that wasn't a bloody stump. Sakura squinted hard at the mess of mangled bone and sinew. Wrinkled her nose at the smell. And she could see Sasuke clutching his opposite arm which looked similarly grisly. Only, slightly worse, because it was also smoldering.
Her teeth snapped together as she exclaimed, "Get in here!"
She seized both of them by the front of their tattered cloaks, yanking them into the room. Kakashi followed, carrying a dusty sack. And then, to her horror, more people began filing into her quarters. Most were complete strangers to her. One of them shoved a bunch of daisies into her hands, dirt still clinging to the scraggly roots. Another knocked into the doorframe as he tried to squeeze inside.
"What the- who the..." Sakura interrupted herself, sighing. She pressed her palm to her temple, exactly where throbbing had begun to manifest. She pointed out the door with her other hand.
"Anyone who isn't currently gushing blood, get out," she ordered.
There was a clunk as someone knocked into her desk. Her poor assistant dove to catch a vase of roses as it teetered off her desk. As her headache intensified, Sakura raised her free hand. Fire began to rise from the tips of her fingers.
"Out the door or I will roast all your asses," she warned.
Kakashi ushered everyone outside, whistling over the protests. He tipped his tattered hat to Sakura before shutting the door behind him.
"You two. Sit," Sakura then ordered, turning to Naruto and Sasuke. They sat on the dark blue couch by the door. The fire that sat in her hand shifted. Turning to a gentle green glow.
"Now talk. What the hell happened?" she asked. Her assistant brought the stool over from the corner so that she could sit in front of her two patients.
"Well, we were fighting a dragon..." Naruto began. Quite cheerful despite the fact that he was missing a hand. The glow encased his bleeding stump. He yelped when the nerves and bone began regrowing. Sasuke winced, but he was less whiny about the ordeal.
"A dragon? Are you insane?" Sakura exclaimed.
"That's what I said," muttered Sasuke.
"Those things are huge! Some of them breathe acid! Why would you try to fight one?" she went on. And Naruto tilted his head to one side.
"Oh... seriously? I just heard it was guarding some crazy good loot," Naruto confessed. And then he thumped himself on the chest. "Daddy needs some new armor!"
Sakura debated whether or not she could get away with throttling a patient.
"Well... was the treasure worth it?" she finally decided to ask.
"Dunno. We kind of got... destroyed...and ran away… without loot," answered Naruto. He laughed a little, nudging Sasuke with his shoulder. Like they were sharing some hysterical inside joke.
Sasuke stared directly at Sakura. He didn't have to say a word. She recognized a cry for help when she saw one.
Sakura was less than gentle as she patched up their arms. She could have soothed the pain. She just chose not to. She stopped the bleeding and regrew the bones, which was an exhausting affair. Her assistant stepped in to help pile on the magical ointments and salves that would prevent infection and help speed up the body's healing process.
"It'll take a couple months for the muscle and skin to grow back," Sakura warned.
"Holy shit. I was just hoping you'd stop me from bleeding to death," remarked Naruto. He wiggled his skeletal fingers. He held still as Sakura bound it all up with bandages. Under the layers of linen, it was hard to tell the grisly truth about his regenerating hand.
Naruto gave himself a high-five as Sakura bandaged up Sasuke's arm.
"Don't do that," Sakura ordered without looking at him.
"Why not?"
"You don't have any nerves there yet. So you could damage it without even realizing," she explained.
"Dumbass," muttered Sasuke.
"Oh, like you knew," snorted Naruto, rolling his eyes. But he did stop high-fiving himself. Instead, he turned to grin at Sakura.
"We were so sure that we were screwed. You're the best."
The sudden compliment only made her suspicious. Her eyes narrowed, but she let him talk.
"Anyway, that's why we need you, Sakura. All the health potions in the world can't replace ya," Naruto declared.
"Hire someone out of a tavern. I'm busy," Sakura rejected him again.
"But it HAS to be you, Sakura! It's not the same without you!" whined Naruto, undeterred.
"...It is tough. We were way better off with you in the party," Sasuke agreed. And she couldn't imagine how much it took for the great Sasuke to admit to something like that. He never had anything positive to say about anyone. Not even himself.
"Speaking of which, who were all those people? How the hell do you have so many people in your party?" Sakura then demanded. Naruto raised his bandaged hand. Stopped. Raised his other hand to scratch the back of his head instead.
"Huh. Dunno. Just... like... gathered them as we went, I guess," mused Naruto. And then his eyes went wide. "Oh! By the way, you gotta meet Neji! He's an elf! Figured you guys would want to talk about... being elfy... and stuff."
Sakura rubbed her temples. "Naruto, we've been over this. I'm a half-elf. It's not the same thing."
"Oh... yeah. Sorry. Forgot," he replied, turning a little pink. Then he was talking again.
"But come on, Sakura. It'll be like old times. We really, really need you. We gotta kill the demon king," Naruto insisted.
Sakura's left eye twitched.
"And we're not as reckless as we used to be, I promise."
Next to Naruto, Sasuke silently shook his head. Naruto saw that. He paused to think. And then he shrugged.
"Okay, yeah, we almost died, like, a bunch of times. And then there was that time we fell into a poison swamp. That really sucked," Naruto went on.
Sasuke's eyes met hers. He gave her the world's flattest stare. "Please," he whispered.
Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. "Guys." She sighed. "It's not that simple. I work for the emperor now. I can't just up and leave."
"Cool. I'll talk to him," Naruto chirruped.
Before Sakura could stop him, he was out the door, running in the direction of the throne room.
Half an hour later, Naruto was back, a fancy parchment in his hand. It bore the royal seal, along with a looping signature at the bottom.
"Says here that the Imperial Physician, Sakura Haruno- Is that your surname? Seriously? Anyway- you're hereby temporarily relieved of her duties to aid the noble hero (that's me) in his quest to vanquish the demon king," Naruto read before he handed her the paper for inspection. For a moment, Sakura considered throwing it into the fireplace. But even she wasn't bold enough to burn an imperial document.
Instead, she glared at Naruto. "Have I ever told you that I hate your charisma modifier?"
Naruto gave his chest another proud thump. "Gramps used to say I could charm the skin off a bear."
Sakura grimaced. "That doesn't make any sense."
Naruto nodded, rubbing his chin. "Yeah, he kind of lost his mind in his later years. Said lots of weird stuff before he died."
She threw the parchment at his face.
Sakura met them at the city gates at dawn the following day. They weren't difficult to find. Especially given how loud Naruto's voice was as he laughed.
She had spent almost two years traveling with Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. They had journeyed through a good portion of the southern jungles and the riverlands. They hadn't made a huge fortune, but the gold they'd acquired had been enough to support her as she studied for the imperial physician's exam.
It had been three years since they had parted ways. Sakura had fallen out of touch quite purposely. She had a suspicion that Kakashi was the one who had tracked her down. He was like a bloodhound.
"Where's everyone else?" she inquired as she dropped her rucksack at her feet.
"They went ahead. We'll meet up with them tomorrow,"
Naruto was a shifter. He claimed that his inner beast was a fox, which she would have doubted had she not witnessed him bite out the throat of an enemy on numerous occasions. Sometimes he seemed more like a person. Other times he seemed more like a beast. Most of the time, he was just reckless. He gave her a silly little waggle of his hand, which just made her head hurt more.
Beside him was Sasuke. He was an genasi, which he had once explained during a rare sociable moment, meant that he was descended from a human and a genie. Which side was which, according to Sasuke, he couldn't say. She had spent the better part of a year avoiding his glare before she realized that he was just as quiet and ill-tempered with everyone else. But he wasn't all bad. After all, he hadn't burnt Naruto to a crisp after all these years. Sakura wasn't sure that she would've exercised such restraint in his shoes.
Last was Kakashi, the human rogue. She knew the least about him. And she was sort of satisfied to keep things that way. She got the feeling that he had told her more lies about himself than truths.
Naruto pointed at the only stranger in their group. It was the massive, grey-ish blue man who had nearly shattered the vase in her office. He stood a head above everyone else. And his huge muscles only added to his ridiculous size. According to Naruto, he was a fighter they'd found passed out on the side of the road.
Sakura stared at Naruto while he babbled on. It took him a while, but he finally noticed and raised his eyebrows at her. "What's wrong?" He leaned in to whisper. "Have you never seen a tiefling before? He's not a demon. Don't be a racist, Sakura."
Gritting her teeth, Sakura shoved him away with her shoulder.
"Naruto, you don't even know who this is and you're just... traveling together?" she demanded.
"He's cool! I swear!" Naruto insisted. Like she was being the weird one.
The tiefling man grinned, revealing individually pointed teeth. Sakura pursed her lips.
"Sasuke!" Sakura sighed, already turning toward him.
"I said no, but he wouldn't listen," Sasuke defended himself. He had obviously had this argument with Naruto many times before.
"Naruto, you-" Sakura stopped. Took a deep breath to calm herself before she tried again. "You can't just pick people off the side of the road and say 'let's go'. That's not how it works."
"Why not? That's how we met you," replied Naruto, eyes wide.
Kakashi stifled a snort from somewhere behind her. Sakura whipped around to glare at him. Kakashi's nose was buried in a book like he couldn't even hear her. Hissing through her teeth, Sakura returned her disapproving stare to Naruto.
Naruto jabbed his thumb into his chest. "I'm a great judge of character, Sakura. Trust me," was all he said.
Sakura turned her pleading gaze to Sasuke one last time.
"Don't try to reason with him," he advised.
Rubbing her temples, Sakura gestured for Naruto to proceed with the introductions.
"Anyway, this is Kisame. He helped us punch a bunch of giant rats after we picked him up, so we asked him to join up."
Kisame put his fist on his hip, obviously as an excuse to flex his bicep at her.
"Of course you did," muttered Sakura. She felt exhausted even though they hadn't taken a step outside the city yet. Her eyes found Kakashi, who raised his eyebrows at her.
"If we die, I'll kill you," she warned. She pointed an accusatory finger at him.
Kakashi's eyes crinkled in the corners. She knew he was laughing. "You haven't changed, Sakura."
The winding forest path was cold. Sakura wrapped her cloak around her shoulders, following several steps behind Naruto, who was absorbed in conversation with Kisame. From the snippets that drifted back to them, they seemed to be discussing how Kisame swung his sword. She must have been right because after several paces, they both began miming cutting motions. Striking from above. From the side.
"You can't just use your arms. They'll pop out of the sockets. You have to put your back into it," Kisame told him as Naruto copied his movements.
Kakashi hung back, which left Sakura and Sasuke to walk beside each other in the middle of their group.
They were quiet for a bit. Which she knew didn't really bother Sasuke, since he didn't really like to make small ta-
"You've been busy, Imperial Physician," he commented.
Startled, Sakura turned to look at him. Sasuke stared straight ahead. His pale profile sharp against the foliage.
"Uh... yeah. I guess," she fumbled to say.
"I told you you'd pass," he added.
That took Sakura a moment. And then she remembered one of those nights camped out in the woods. Naruto had been sitting on a stump wiping goblin blood off his greataxe while Kakashi sat high up in a tree to keep watch. She couldn't exactly remember why they had started talking about it, but she did remember what she had told Sasuke:
What if I fail the exam? Everyone in my village worked so hard to get me here.
It took Sakura another beat to realize that Sasuke was teasing her. She smiled.
"Yeah. You did," Sakura agreed. She didn't know what else to say. After another minute of crunching through the foliage, Sasuke spoke again.
"You like your job?" he asked.
Sakura thought, head tilting up to stare at the trees. At the spotty sunlight that poked in between the leaves.
"Yeah. I like it," she answered.
"Hey! There's a cave or something up here!" Naruto called from ahead, waving his arm at them. Sasuke clucked his tongue as Naruto then proceeded to charge into the dark hole in the stone. A series of garbled, sharp cries rang out, while alerted them to the presence of at least several goblins.
"That moron," grumbled Sakura under her breath as they took off in a run after him.
They camped along the side of a cliff that night. Out of habit, Sakura pitched her tent between Naruto and Sasuke's. They dug holes in the ground with branches they'd snapped off a tree. And though it had been a while, Sakura found herself shaking her head and occasionally laughing at Naruto's jokes.
Naruto volunteered to go gather firewood. He grabbed Sasuke by the cloak and dragged him along too, ignoring Sasuke's glares and protests.
Sakura opened up her rucksack to check on her supplies. She pulled out a bundle of soft leather. When she undid the cord securing it, she could unfold it to reveal an herb pouch filled with sprigs and flowers. She plucked a few of the green leaves and rubbed them together in her hands to release the oils. The smell of peppermint filled the air as she began patting her neck, arms, and legs.
"Keeps mosquitoes away," she then explained when she felt Kakashi staring at her.
Kisame tilted his head as he watched her settle by the campfire. Her cloak draped over her shoulders. Their eyes met through the flames.
Sakura didn't exactly trust him. But she didn't see a point in being rude either.
"Is something the matter?" she asked.
As he stirred the stew bubbling away over the fire, Kakashi glanced at her too.
Kisame rested his elbow on his knee. "I'm trying to understand something. I'm wondering if you're the type of person to give me a straight answer," he said.
"Well, since I'm not Kakashi, sure," she responded.
"Hey, now," Kakashi chuckled, probably smiling under the black mask that covered his mouth.
"What do you get out of helping the hero? This one's obviously in it for the money," Kisame then stated, pointing a finger in Kakashi's direction. The rogue didn't even bother to deny what was obviously true.
"The ranger's in it for loyalty. But what about you?" Kisame went on.
Sakura considered this, arms crossing under her cloak. She met Kisame's black eyes through the flames.
"Because stopping the demon king is the right thing to do. Obviously," she replied.
Kisame's eyes narrowed. "Naruto's probably going to get us killed," he pointed out. Sakura tilted her way this and that.
"Oh, yeah, probably," she finally agreed. And Kisame's forehead wrinkled as she laughed.
They journeyed for three more days through the forests. Naruto's tail flicked back and forth, swatting at the mosquitoes that nipped at his neck and his arms. Any that ventured too close to Sasuke erupted into flames, sizzling into ash. And Naruto whispered that Kakashi must not have any blood in his veins because the bugs didn't even try to get close to him. Which made Sakura snicker as she handed Kisame a sprig of spearmint.
"Here. The mosquitoes get pretty aggressive in this part of the forest," Sakura warned him as she offered him the plant. As she walked off to rejoin Naruto and Sasuke, Kisame stared down at the pointed leaves. He sniffed. And then he crushed it between his palms as he rubbed his hands together. The fresh scent curled through the air. When he looked up, Sakura was looking at him. She mimed patting her hands on her neck and behind her ears. Then she rubbed her hands up and down her arms and legs. He copied her. She smiled in response before she turned back to Naruto to scold him about something.
They wound their way through the rest of the forest. Sasuke took down a pair of rabbits in the undergrowth with a few arrows. And Naruto snatched a few trout out of the river with easy swipes of his clawed hands.
"And some fruit!" Naruto emerged from the brush with his good hand filled with lumpy green shapes. Sakura took one look at them and swatted them to the ground.
"Hey! You're the one always complaining about us not eating enough fruits and vegetables," sulked Naruto, staring down at the forest floor.
"Those are oleander fruit, Naruto. We'll die if we eat those. You shouldn't even be touching them," Sakura scolded.
"Aw, really? I thought these would be okay," he grumbled.
"For a shifter, you've got shitty survival skills," Sasuke remarked, chin in his hand as he watched from next to the fire. Naruto glared at him.
"I don't need survival skills," Naruto snapped. And then he pointed a proud thumb at his chest. "I've got luck."
"He said before he died of poisoning," Sakura concluded with a sigh. She glanced down at the fruit for a moment. And then she kicked up some leaves and dirt to bury them.
"Well," said Sasuke, staring at the lump of dirt.
"Well," repeated Naruto, also staring.
They both looked up at Kakashi, who shrugged. "Well. Meat it is, I guess."
The skin on Sakura's hand prickled a little as the poison seeped in. She shook her hand a little, the pendant wrapped around her wrist glowing as it purified the toxins. She then reached out to touch Naruto's wrist to do the same for him.
When Sakura returned several minutes later, Kakashi had gutted and cleaned the animals. The skin sizzled and popped as it hung over the campfire. With a grunt, she settled on one of the stones near the fire. When she looked over at Sasuke, he was busy staring off into the distance. Waving her hand offered no reaction, so she bent over to pick an acorn off the ground. It hit him on the back of the head. Sasuke turned to her with a glare. She motioned for him with both hands.
"Does it hurt?" she asked as he shuffled over a few places to sit next to her. Dumping his arm in her lap, he went back to looking away.
"Sort of. It tingles. Sometimes it wakes me up," Sasuke admitted.
"Good. That means the nerves are growing," Sakura replied as she gathered energy to her palm. It glowed gold before she placed it on his bandaged forearm. The light soaked into him, illuminating the shape of his skeleton beneath the linen.
"Looks good. Next!" Sakura then called. Naruto appeared from nowhere. He shoved Sasuke out of the way, who went tumbling backwards into the undergrowth. Grinning way too hard, Naruto sat on the ground in front of Sakura, draping his arm over her lap. She took a moment to stare down at him.
"You know, one of these days, he's going to kill you for that," she warned him.
Naruto shrugged his other shoulder. "Maybe. Worth it."
Sakura did the same for Naruto. She asked questions about the pain and scanned the inside of his healing arm. Despite the fact that she had treated their arms at the same time, Naruto's arm was rebuilding itself a little more quickly. Many of the muscle fibers had started to regrow around the skeleton. The magic that allowed him to move his arm would slowly start to fade once his body was able to do it on his own.
When Sakura gave a nod of approval, Naruto didn't move. Sakura twitched her leg. He still didn't budge. When she glanced down, she found Naruto's face strangely glum. His eyes squeezed shut, corners of his mouth turning down. Sasuke, who had gotten to his feet, hands balled into fists, stood still. His hand uncurled as he took in Naruto's slumped shoulders.
"Your legs are so soft, Sakura. This is comfy," sighed Naruto.
Sakura gave him a look of disgust. "Sasuke, just kill him now," she requested. She jolted Naruto off her lap and dealt a solid kick to his back, sending him rolling across the forest floor. His laughter dissolved into a yelp as Sasuke aimed a small fireball in his direction.
Huffing, Sakura moved to the other side of the fire to sit next to Kisame. He grunted at her in greeting.
"Are you sure about these clowns?" he inquired.
Rubbing her hands over her face, Sakura watched Sasuke grab the back of Naruto's shirt. Naruto let out a high-pitched shriek in protest. Kakashi watched them from his spot on a tree branch, making absolutely no move to stop the two from squabbling.
"Maybe they'll annoy the demon king to death," suggested Sakura. She and Kisame snickered a little.
The next city they arrived in was their rendezvous point. As the armed guards checked their travel documents, Sakura peered in through the iron portcullis. She took a step back when one of the guards eyed her. After a minute, the guards returned their document.
"Open up!" one of the guards called. The chains clanked and gears groaned as the gate slowly lifted.
"Welcome," he then said, dipping his head to her.
Sakura smiled.
"You know him?" asked Naruto as they walked into the city.
"Nope," answered Sakura.
As Sakura continued on ahead, Naruto whipped his head around to glare at the guard. He pointed at his eyes, and then at the guard, sharp canines glinting. The guard paled. As a proud smirk appeared on Naruto's face, Sasuke grabbed the shifter by the back of the shirt and pulled him along.
"If Sakura sees you doing that, she'll kill you," sighed Sasuke.
"Doing what?" Sakura called over her shoulder. It was Naruto's turn to blanch. His pleading eyes fell on Sasuke, who just sighed again.
"He was scratching at his bandages," Sasuke lied.
'Thank you,' mouthed Naruto as Sasuke continued to drag him along the cobblestones.
Kakashi lead them into a seedy pub along a dark, crooked street. Sakura made a face as she glimpsed the wooden sign above the door. It was of a sinister-looking boar with long tusks. She leveled Kakashi with a look. His eyebrows rose as he held the door open for her.
"If this is a brothel-" Sakura hissed.
"Yes, yes, you'll kill me. It's not," responded Kakashi.
Sakura strode past him, her fists held tight at her sides. At the first sign of a petticoat, she was prepared to punch Kakashi in the jaw.
This wasn't the first dingy tavern she had ever been in. In fact, during the early days of adventuring together, they had never been able to afford the fancy inns on the main streets. She hadn't missed the lecherous leers from greasy strangers eyeing her as she walked into the place. The gazes usually cooled somewhat when they spotted the holy symbol dangling from her wrist.
Thankfully, while the place seemed old and a little grimy, it wasn't as seedy as she had feared. In fact, a group of people sitting at a long table waved as Naruto scanned the room. He returned the gesture. And then he turned around to grab Sakura's wrist. He pulled her along.
"You finally get to meet the rest of the party! C'mon!" he exclaimed.
The first person that Naruto introduced was a bard. Which Sakura knew before Naruto said so because he carried a dulcimer. He was a human with dark brown hair and an impressive beard.
"Asuma here is good at singing," Naruto explained, pointing at the human man carrying a dulcimer.
"Yes. Bards are known for that," she retorted. Sasuke smirked as he walked up to join her.
"We found him fighting off a pack of sewer rats so we saved him. And then I told him to join us," Naruto went on.
"Where did you find sewer rats?" Sakura demanded..
"The sewers, of course!" was Naruto's cheerful reply.
"Why were you in the sewers?" wondered Sakura, disgusted by the mere idea of sloshing around in the filth under a city.
Sasuke made a face, too. "I don't want to talk about it," he muttered. He wrinkled his nose.
"It was shitty," Kakashi added.
Sasuke's eyes turned murderous. "I will gut you, old man," he whispered.
Shaking her head, Sakura pushed Sasuke's hand down, which had started to sizzle. She turned her attention back to Naruto and the others.
"Well, Asuma, hi, I guess," Sakura said. Asuma held his hand out. He had a firm grasp, but his gaze seemed kind as they shook.
When Asuma sat back down, Naruto gestured toward the willowy man who sat beside him. His long, silky hair was tied back, revealing pointed ears. When their eyes met, Sakura could feel him appraising her.
"Hello," he said first.
Sakura hesitated for a moment. She tried to find the sarcasm in his gaze. But there was none. Slowly, she took his hand.
"Hello," she said in return.
"So, this is Neji," Naruto announced, grinning way too hard. His eyes darting back and forth between them. He practically vibrated with excitement. "I figured you guys could talk about elf stuff together."
Sakura cringed. She had learned the hard way that full elves never considered a half-elf like her one of them. While many were polite enough not to say it out loud, the disgust was clear in their eyes. The mere of idea of being compared to an A'Tel'Quessir was an insult. Almost-people. Or "round ear" if they were more direct.
To her surprise, Neji gave her hand a light squeeze. Corner of his mouth lifting a little.
"I look forward to it," he replied to Naruto, still looking right at her.
As Naruto went on talking, Sakura pulled her hand from Neji's grasp. She took a step back, bumping into Sasuke. He looked a little annoyed until she said "sorry". And they were quiet as they watched Naruto interact with the elf.
She almost didn't say anything for fear of sounding narrow-minded. But after half a dozen times of her opening her mouth and then closing it again, Sasuke nudged her with his elbow.
"Just say it," he grumbled.
Sakura peeked at Sasuke. He was staring right back at her, hand resting on his hip. And then she stole a glance back at the rest of the group. They seemed engrossed in a lively conversation about some kind of monster they'd slain. Lips twisting to one side, Sakura motioned for him. Sasuke tilted his head down toward her, rolling his eyes.
"I've never met such a friendly elf before. They're usually more... racist," she uttered in the tiniest voice possible.
"That's not a secret or anything, you know," retorted Sasuke in a normal voice. When Sakura flapped her hand at him, he snorted.
"But you'll see why," he then said.
Before Sakura could grill him, she heard her name. Naruto gestured for her, pointing to the last person sitting at the end of the table. It was a halfling woman who was just finishing up polishing a rapier. She had brown hair tied up in buns on either side of her head. In front of her sat a long piece of cloth. Resting on top of it were knives of every shape and size.
Their eyes met.
"This is Tenten. She's part of Asuma's crew," Naruto told her.
Tenten slowly lowered her sword. They stared at each other. Saying nothing.
"Uh-oh. Guess there might be rivalry between the ladies. Sakura's used to being the only girl, after all," snickered Naruto. And then he yelped "ow" as Sasuke kicked the back of his knee.
Sakura strode across the floorboards, hands reaching out. The halfling woman grasped them. They were both smiling, despite the fact that they had never even met before.
"Thank Freya. A woman," Sakura sighed with relief.
"Finally, someone who won't stink like horse shit," replied the halfling.
"I brought extra soap."
"Bless you."
