Cherry Blossoms and Chakra Strings: Welcome Home Party

The second time being sent through a summoning seal was just as disorienting as the first, if not even more. Sakura was literally spat out of the matrix like she was a spoiled piece of meat, ejected into thankfully soft grass so violently that she was sent tumbling over herself.

‘She did that on purpose.’ The pinkette thought as she came to a stop face down in the dirt. Her face stung from the harsh impact and she groaned, spitting a piece of grass-laden soil out of her mouth as she tried to get her thoughts back in order, only to yelp as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her middle and hauled her off the ground.

“Ah! What-!” Sakura froze as she was brought against someone’s chest and the scent of something floral filled her senses. It was like someone had taken a dozen flowers and piled them on top of one another, and then did the same with a dozen more, blending their smells together into a cocktail of delightful and familiar scents, and Sakura relaxed as she recognized it.

“Geez, Ino. Do you think you could tell me before you try and give me a heart attack next time?” Sakura grouched as she hugged her friend back. Ino’s arms tightened around her back, going from gentle from almost bruising in an instant, and Sakura let out a strangled gasp as a pair of aqua eyes gave her the death glare.

“Only when you stop trying to give me one just by existing. What the hell happened, Sakura!? You’ve been gone for hours!”

Sakura flinched back as Ino yelled in her face, “I didn't mean to! I misread something on the seal and didn't realize until it was too late.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better, Sakura.” Ino’s voice was angry and scared, and Sakura stared at her as a tremor entered her voice, “I thought you weren’t coming back.”

Ino was really worried for her, wasn’t she? Sakura’s annoyed expression softened, and she looked away from Ino as an odd warmth spread throughout her chest at the notion.

“I’m sorry for worrying you.” Sakura said softly, “I was just so excited about the contract that I missed things. I shouldn't have activated the seal without running through it more thoroughly..”

“YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE!” Sakura froze as another voice joined Ino's, one that she hadn't heard in a while. Ino set her down on the grass as she slowly turned, looking at the person who had suddenly shown up with fearful eyes.

“Ah, h-hello, Kushina. What are you doing here?” She asked the irate woman she somehow hadn't noticed before.

The woman's face was set in an expression of rictus anger mixed with intense disappointment. It reminded Sakura so much of her mother that she couldn't help but cringe as the instincts that all children possessed reared up inside of her.

“I brought her here after you disappeared.” Ino said as she set Sakura down and stepped back, “I didn't really know what else to do. She's the only one I could think of other than your sensei, and I couldn't find him.”

“She found me, though.” Sakura jumped as another voice came from behind her, turning to stare at Tsu's fanged grin, “I was practicing my water release when blondie here barged into my training area spewing all sorts of crap about you being gone forever so I just had to check it out. You really are crazy, aren't you, Sakura?”

“Oh she's crazy all right.” Kushina agreed as she stomped towards the group. Sakura flinched as the woman reached out, grabbing her ear harshly and pulling her towards her, “What the hell were you thinking, Sakura!? No, don't answer that, you weren't thinking at all! Even the brightest of this generation doesn't have anything but empty air between their ears!”

“The red one is very loud. Bring me closer so that I may sink my fangs into her flesh.” All eyes turned to Sakura's head as a small, furry form crawled out of her hair. As Kii revealed himself, Ino let out a shrill shriek that made Sakura worry for any nearby glass windows and shoved the pinkette away.

“What the hell is that thing!?” She said, pointing a trembling finger at the spider as he crawled onto Sakura's shoulder. Sakura glanced at it as Kushina and Tsu leaned closer,  staring at him with curiosity and wariness.

“This is Kii.” Sakura said, “He's one of the spiders I'm contracted with.”

“Spiders?” Ino squeaked, “You got a contract with spiders? No, what am I saying, of course you did. I don't know why I'm even surprised, honestly. This is just par for the course with you!”

'Damnit! I just lost a hundred ryo to Hikari.” Tsu groaned as she backed up, “Why couldn't you just get a squirrel or something, Sakura? I bet that you wouldn't get an insect and there you go, making me lose money.”

Sakura giggled, “Well if it makes you feel any better, spiders aren't insects.”

Tsu blinked, before grinning widely, “Hey, that's true! That means I won!”

“If you can convince Hikari. I'm not sure they'll take an argument like that.” Sakura said, giggling as Tsu waved her hand dismissively, “And besides, I don't even technically have the contract yet.”

Her words stopped everyone in their tracks, and even Ino stopped shivering theatrically to give her a confused look, “What do you mean? You came back with a summon.”

“Kii is here to make sure that I live up to my end of the deal we made.” Sakura explained, “The Broodmother needed something in return for putting her children in danger, and since they were starving, I offered them a place where they can eat and grow as much as they wanted.”

Kushina instantly connected the dots, “You want to let them set up in the Forest of Death.” 

Sakura nodded, “That's my current plan. Since it's so big and everything in there is already huge anyway, I doubt anyone would care if a few extra spiders lived there. Especially ones that were allied with Konoha by proxy of me.”

Kushina made a thoughtful expression, “Hmm, that could definitely work. You'd have to talk to the Hokage first though.”

As they discussed his clan's fate, Kii made his presence known once more, “You humans come in many shapes and sizes. What tactical advantage does such variance offer above your prey? I believe that a more standardized form would be easier to perfect.” He said, observing the people held before him with his numerous eyes

All eyes turned to him and Tsu scoffed, “Yeah, well, we don’t get to choose what we look like buddy.” she said. Kii’s head turned to her and his mandibles twitched.

“Evolution has failed you as a species. You have no claws, no fangs, no poison, you would not survive long within the brood.” He said, “This one is surprised you managed to make it past your species' infantile stages.”

Tsu’s eyebrow twitched at the perceived insult, “Oh I’ve got claws buddy. Why don’t I show you how sharp they can get?”

“Tsu, please don’t threaten him.” Sakura sighed as Tsu drew closer to Kii who reared up on his legs in response, exposing glistening fangs, “He’s kind of my only shot at keeping the contract.”

“Tch. You got lucky this time, bug.” Tsu gave the arachnid the stink eye as she stepped back, “I hope your other summons aren't as rude as this one is, Sakura.”

“Rude?” Kii tilted his head, “I was merely making observations that anyone could see even without my many eyes.”

Tsu shook her head, “Right. Anyway, I'm glad you're okay, Sakura, but I gotta get back to Tadao before he decides to take a nap while I'm gone. It's a massive pain to wake him up for training without a treat.”

“Bye, Tsu. Sorry for worrying you.” Sakura said as the Inuzuka walked away, and Tsu gave her a wave over the shoulder as she disappeared back into the forest.

As she left, Kushina put her hands on her hips, remembering why she was here in the first place, “You should count your lucky stars that nobody tampered with that seal, Sakura.”

Sakura nodded silently, “I know.”

“No, I don't think you do.” Kushina said gravely, trying to import the seriousness of this upon the young girl, “Summoning seals aren't just your everyday seals. There are so many different things that go into them that work completely in harmony because they have to. If a single thing was out of place, you would have come out the other side a twitching pile of sentient meat. And you would feel every single second of that until the lack of oxygen to your brain put you out of your misery.”

While Ino gagged at the vivid imagery, Sakura gently pressed a sore spot on her shoulder, “I'm pretty sure a few things are already in the wrong places. I hit the ground pretty hard back there.”

“It would serve you right.” Kushina cider, “Someone taught by Lady Chiyo should know better. She'd be just as disappointed in you as I am if she knew what you did.”

As Sakura looked away in shame, the Uzumaki rubbed her forehead with a sigh, “Anyway, you seem fine and I need to get home before my ramen gets cold so you're off the hook for now.” She narrowed her eyes at Sakura, “But if you EVER do anything like that again, then I am going to confiscate every single bit of your sealing equipment and take you back to Uzumaki kindergarten! You'll be practicing brush strokes for months before you see a drop of ink, is that understood?”

“Yes ma'am.” Sakura squeezed, and Kushina stared at her for another moment to really drive the threat home, before nodding firmly and flickering away, leaving Sakura and Ino alone.

In the wake of that oddly intimidating threat, neither of the girls were sure of what to say. There was a beat as the two of them just stared at the place where Kushina had just disappeared, before Ino slowly turned to look at her friend, “She's scary.” 

Sakura just nodded, unable to say anything after that. Even Kii had retreated back into her hair, unable to brave the fiery woman's anger.

Ino looked up at the sky and the setting sun, “You should probably go home. I told your parents that you disappeared and your mom was not happy. With me or you, I'm don't know, but if I was a betting girl…”

Sakura sighed, “Yeah. You're right.” She was really not looking forward to getting lectured by her mom though. Kushina had been scary, but she had nothing on Mebuki Haruno on a warpath.

Shivering, Sakura glanced at Ino, “Could you… come with me? Please? To help me explain what happened?”

Ino's pony tail swayed from side to side as she shook her head vehemently, “Oh no, I'm still mad at you! You can deal with your mom all on your own. It'll teach you not to worry me like that.”

“Please Ino!” Sakura grabbed the girl by her shoulders with a pleading expression. She leaned in really close, emerald eyes sparkling earnestly as she imagined what her mom would do to her, “She's gonna ground me for a month! Even if I am a kunoichi! I won't be able to work on my puppets or my poison or anything!”

Ino's face was red but the blonde didn't budge, keeping her expression calm and collected in the face of her friend's pleas, “I don't know… I don't really like worrying about my best friends.”

“Please!”

Ino smirked, “Make it worth my while.”

“I'll do literally anything.” Sakura said, being completely honest. Ino paused for a moment and her brows furrowed, before she turned her face to the side and muttered something that Sakura couldn't hear even this close up.

“What?”

Growling, Ino turned back towards her, staring at Sakura with an odd intensity, “I said, I want you to treat me to dinner.”

Sakura blinked, a bit let down by the simple request, “That's it? Sure, we can stop by somewhere on the way home, I guess.”

Ino shook her head, “Oh no, it's not gonna be that easy. I don't want some cheap ramen or food stand. I want an actual meal. We're going somewhere nice, one of those places that you actually have to dress up for, and you're gonna be paying for both our meals.”

It was an odd request, at least Sakura thought so. Ino usually didn't care for fancy places, always saying that they had no atmosphere and were way too cold for comfort. If that was what she wanted though, Sakura didn't mind acquiescing. It sounded like fun.

“Okay. I've got some extra money anyway so I don't see why not.” She agreed easily, “Pick a place and time and I'll pick you up.”

Ino smiles brightly, clearly extremely happy that Sakura had agreed. She must have really wanted some fancy food on someone else's dime.

“Don't worry about that now, we can go over it later!” She said in a chopper voice, before grabbing Sakura's hand and pulling her alone, “For now, let's go talk to your mom so that you don't have to cancel on me because you can't leave your house!”

“Wha-hey! Ino, slow down!” Sakura said as she was nearly pulled off her feet by her friend. She stumbled after the blonde, catching up to her so that she was walking beside her instead of being led like a child on a leash. 

Sakura she slipped out of the blonde’s crushing grip and into something more comfortable, lacing her fingers with her friend's in a smooth gesture, “Do you think you could give me some warning next time you try and rip my arm out of its socket.”

“Pfft, don't be a baby.” Ino said, grinning unrepentantly, “And by the way you're coming with me to buy a new dress. For you, I mean. I'm not sure I've seen you in anything other than your ninja gear since we turned twelve.”

Sakura paled at the thought of shopping with Ino, “W-Wait-!”

“I wasn't asking, Sakura.”