Cherry Blossom Daydream: Waking

[Waking]

“YOU THREE… pass.”

Kakashi watched as his words washed over the three kids in front of him, finding no small amount of amusement in the way they reacted to his words. Naruto looked like he was about to jump out of his skin while Sasuke was staring at him like he wasn’t sure whether to bolt or attack him out of sheer surprise. Sakura...

Was just staring into space sort of slack-jawed. Huh. Maybe that genjutsu hit her harder than he thought.

Surprisingly, Naruto was the first one to get himself under control. He stared at Kakashi with wide, befuddled eyes. “W-We passed? But why?”

Kakashi straightened, his hand slipping into his pocket in a relaxed gesture. “I’ll admit, I’m surprised too. You guys are the first. Up until now, all of my teams just listened to my words and took them at face value, but it looks like you guys saw through my deception, just like real ninjas should.”

“It was another test, wasn’t it?” Sasuke finally spoke, and Kakashi regarded him with a smile.

“That’s right. None of you were ever going to get the bells from me; I haven’t gotten that soft. But by disobeying my orders and feeding Naruto, you proved that you’re capable of thinking for yourself and more importantly, being a team player.” He stared at the three of them, his voice dropping low to impart the next words with the importance they deserved. “Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash, they’re scum.”

“So if we hadn’t given Naruto food...:” Sasuke started, staring at him with dark eyes. “You would have failed us.”

“Without hesitation.” Kakashi said cheerfully. Sasuke’s fists clenched, while Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

“Wow, it’s a good thing you guys decided to be nice to me, huh?”

While Sasuke huffed, Kakashi turned to the last member of the team who had been conspicuously silent. Sakura had been planted in place since he started talking, but she didn’t look nearly as out of it as before. She was staring at a nearby stump littered with kunai, her jaw set and fists clenched.

Kakashi tilted his head, leaning down into her field of view. “Hello? Earth to Sakura? Anyone home?”

“Is it too late to go back to the Academy?”

...Huh?

Kakashi blinked, while the other two freshly-minted Genin stared at her like she just grew another head.

“Eh?” Naruto squinted like he’d heard something strange. “What are you talking about, Sakura-chan? We passed! Why would you want to go back to that stinking academy?”

Unsurprisingly, Sakura completely ignored the boy, instead gazing up at Kakashi with a surprising amount of intensity. He eyed her for a moment, surprised by this sudden shift in personality, before realizing that she was waiting for him to answer.

“Well, considering all three of you passed my test and there’s no such thing as teams of two, I’m going to have to say no,” he grinned, his eye turning up in that way that he knew pissed most people off. “I’m afraid you’re stuck with us for the foreseeable future.”

Sakura’s shoulders bunched before she let out a breath that seemed to deflate her entire body. Her shoulders slumped, and she looked at her hands, clenching them into fists.

“Lovely,” she muttered flatly.

Kakashi stared at the girl one brown raised beneath his mask. Well, that was unexpected. He’d been certain she was the well-adjusted one of the group.

“Isn’t it?” he said cheerfully, deciding to let it go for now. “We’ll meet right back her tomorrow at eight o’clock sharp for our first official mission. Don’t be late.”

He shunshined away in a swirl of leaves, leaving three freshly minted genin standing in the clearing.

He had a hot date with a monument to his sins.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up from the neverending stack of paperwork as a presence made itself known on his windowsill. He raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the ninja leaning there. “You’re six hours late, Kakashi.”

Kakashi shrugged, closing his personal bible of smut. “Sorry, Hokage-sama. The monument was especially talkative today.”

Hiruzen sighed, wondering why all of his elite ninja had to be so eccentric. “I’m sure. And I trust you’re here to report on your team?”

“Believe it or not, they passed.” Kakashi slipped into the office, hands in his pocket. Hiruzen chuckled, placing his own down and replacing it with his pipe.

“So I’ve heard,” the Kage said, puffing idly and fighting a grin at Kakashi’s surprised stare. “Miss Haruno was in here just an hour or so ago.”

“Oh?”

“Indeed. She practically begged on hands and knees to be relieved of her newly-minted Genin status.” He finally let loose a chuckle as Kakashi’s jaw hit the floor. “I’ve never seen one do that so soon. You must have made quite the impression on her, Kakashi.”

Kakashi could scarcely believe what he was hearing. Sakura had been shaken by the test, sure, but he didn’t think she was out of it enough to ask to quit the same day she officially got her hitai-ate.

This new generation is so soft, he thought.

“Maa... She did seem pretty shaken up at the end of the test. I can’t say I expected this, though,” he rubbed the back of his head with a sigh. “I’ll talk to her to see if I can’t figure out what’s going on. Hopefully I didn’t screw her up too badly.”

Hiruzen just nodded, gesturing for him to leave, and Kakashi left the Hokage’s office, his mind full of questions he fully intended to get answers to.

He found Sakura’s house easily enough. He’d already scoped it out when he was first assigned his team. It was a nice little place. Nicely shaded by trees but still close to the markets. Good view of the river, too.

He scaled the side of the home and settled himself on the windowsill of what he assumed was her bedroom based on the pink curtains. The window was closed but a light jiggle proved it was unlocked

He pulled it open and was just about to step inside when the door opened across the room. Sakura stepped out of the bathroom in a pair of pajamas decorated with little kittens, a toothbrush dangling from her mouth dripping foam. She had a textbook propped in one hand and was reading intently enough that she almost tripped over a loose scroll in the floor.

Kakashi blinked as the girl gave the thing a sharp look. She’s studying?

That was weird. Most kids couldn’t be happier to get rid of their textbooks once they graduated from the Academy. Then again, she was a brainy type, according to her file. She probably liked studying.

He watched her from the windowsill as she walked to her bed, holding her textbook in one hand and brushing with the other. She hadn’t noticed him yet, so he decided to make himself known with a light cough.

“Brushing up on the basics?” he asked innocently.

Sakura let out a shrill shriek, the textbook flying out of her hands as she whirled around to find him crouched on her window. It took her a second to recognize him but when she did, Kakashi watched in fascination as her little face went from terrified to absolutely murderous. And ooh, was that a bit of killing intent he sensed? Scary.

“What the fu—” she yanked the toothbrush out of her mouth, toothpaste foam splattering across her chin, “When did you get here!?”

“About ten minutes ago,” Kakashi shrugged. “Cute pajamas. I’m more fond of dogs myself, though.”

“Bully for you,” Sakura spat, and he tilted his head at the odd phrase. “You should be glad I’m wearing anything at all. What would you have done if I came out of the bathroom in just a towel or completely naked, huh?”

Kakashi waved a hand dismissively. “Then I would have closed my eyes and waited. I’m not one of those creepy sensei, you know?”

“Not according to what I’m seeing!” Sakura hissed. “You can’t just climb through a teenage girl’s window, you freak!”

“Let’s agree to disagree on that one,” Kakashi said lightly. He stepped inside her room, picking up her textbook and examining the cover. It covered intrinsic chakra theory. Basic, but a bit off the beaten path for someone fresh out of the Academy.

“Can I have my book back?” Sakura huffed, swiping it out of Kakashi’s hand as he held it out. She flipped through toward the page she had been on and dog-eared it, setting it down on her bed.

“That’s bad for the book, you know?” Kakashi pointed out. She shot him a withering look and he added, “You should invest in a bookmark.”

“What do you want, Sensei?”

Kakashi regarded her for a moment, leaning back against her desk with his arms crossed. He let the silence stretch just long enough to be uncomfortable before he spoke.

“I got some interesting news today,” he said, his tone light and conversational. “Turns out one of my cute little genin went running to the Hokage to beg off the team not even an hour after passing. Care to explain that one to me?”

Sakura’s expression froze, before being replaced by something almost guilty. She looked away, wiping foam from her chin.

“I guess you could say I had a come-to-god moment,” she muttered.

Kakashi nodded sagely. “Those are always fun. Thing is, normally you don’t get one of those until your first real mission. Don’t tell me they forgot to desensitize you in the Academy.”

He watched her reaction carefully. Sakura snorted, finally lifting her eyes to meet him. “I guess slitting a rabbit’s throat didn’t really prepare me for seeing my teammate get turned into a pincushion. You might want to tell someone to update the curriculum or stop using genjutsu on twelve-year-olds.”

That was the updated curriculum. When Kakashi was in the Academy, they didn’t have rabbits. POWs were definitely a lot more wiggly and definitely had a lot more blood to spill. It was just a shame nobody told them to bring an extra change of clothes.

Kakashi shook his head free of the memories. That was neither here nor there.

“Fair enough,” he conceded. “I’ll admit the genjutsu may have been a bit much. What can I do to make it up to you?”

Sakura seemed genuinely surprised by his offer which Kakashi thought was a bit weird. She searched his masked face, before smiling softly.

“Well...” she said in that tone little girls used when they knew they were about to get what they wanted. “Access to the shinobi library would go a long way toward making me not wake up screaming for a couple weeks.”

Kakashi blinked one eye slowly, “More studying? You’re a real go-getter, aren’t you?”

“Mama always said to hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” Sakura said, green eyes sparkling mischievously. “It turns out I didn’t know how bad the “worst” was, so I have a lot of preparing to catch up on.”

Kakashi leaned back, studying the girl in front of him. Somehow, he was having trouble recognizing the kid he’d tested less than ten hours ago.

“That’s a pretty big ask. You just got out of the academy, after all. Maybe you should stick to the basics for a little while longer before diving into the deep end.”

Sakura huffed, a bit of childish irritation entering her voice. “Come on, Sensei, it’s not like I’m asking for forbidden jutsu or something. I just want to continue my studies where I left off at the Academy. I can only read the same book on how to perform a proper bunshin before my brain starts to wander to what else I could be using my chakra for.”

She gave him a significant look. Kakashi got her meaning and sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “Geeze... and here I thought Naruto was going to be the troublemaker. You’re really not living up to my expectations here, kid.”

She just stared at him expectantly. Kakashi sighed again. “Alright, you’ve twisted my arm. You’ll need to file some paperwork and get a permission slip—”

“Already got it, Sensei.” Sakura held up a slip of paper with a cheeky grin. It was already filled out and awaiting a signature.

Kakashi’s eye twitched and her grin widened. “Like you said, I’m a go-getter.”

She held it out, wiggling it in offering, and he took it with two fingers like he was worried it would burn him.

“You know,” Kakashi said slowly, “most genin just ask their sensei to teach them things.”

“I learn best at my own place,” Sakura replied without missing a beat. “Besides, I’ve got a feeling you’re going to have your hands full with those two.”

He couldn’t argue with her there. Kakashi examined the form and signed it with a flourish before handing it back. Sakura took it with a satisfied smile, laying it on her nightstand.

“Thank you so much, Sensei,” she said sweetly. She then pointed at the window and said just as kindly, “Now get out of my room before I scream for my parents.”

Kakashi let himself out through the same window he climbed in through. Sakura slammed it shut the moment he was on the other side. He turned towards her, one eyebrow raised behind his mask, and she gave him a smile and a little wave before drawing the curtains.

Kids are weird, Kakashi decided as he turned and leapt off into the night.

The thought was backed by a small amount of relief as his suspicions were momentarily laid to rest. Sakura’s odd behavior had worried him, and he had been discreetly scanning her with his sharingan throughout that entire conversation, gauging her chakra flow and cataloguing her nervous movements, scrutinizing her every move.

What he found was that Sakura Haruno was completely... normal. Or at the very least, she wasn’t under the effects of any genjutsu or transformation. There was nothing different about the girl from what he saw when he first met her yesterday, at least on a physical level. Sakura Haruno was who she said she was, if a little bit weirder than he first suspected. He’d still be keeping an eye on her, but as it stood, he really didn’t think she was some kind of spy or anything like that.

Kakashi dropped from the rooftops and set down the street that held his own apartment, hands in his pockets. He looked up into the moonlit sky, and sighed.

“She was supposed to be the normal one,” he bemoaned again. “Sensei, give me strength.”

If I were to try and sum up the series of events that led me to this moment… Well, I’d be completely out of luck because I didn’t have a clue why or even how I was actually here. None of me did. Not even the parts that were still settling in my grey matter.

The cereal cracked and popped in the milk as I stirred it idly with my spoon, my eyes sliding across the textbook propped against the salt shaker. It was a well-written if boring piece of literature going over the history of Konoha’s more prominent clans. I’d perused its pages several m times already, or I guess Sakura had. Back when Sakura Haruno was just Sakura Haruno and not... whatever I was now.

I stirred my cereal again with hands that were both smaller than I remembered, and the same as they always had been. What should have been a novel feeling was becoming more and more comfortable. Yesterday was probably the most confused I had ever been. Today I couldn’t tell where one of us ended and the other began.

It was like someone had poured two glasses of water into a single cup and then asked me to separate them. Which one was Sakura’s memory of her first day at the Academy, filled with vague notions of nervousness and the excitement, and which one was my memory of a thirty-six year old waking up and wondering what day of the week it was?

I didn’t know, and that... kind of sucked.

I let out a breath through my nose and turned my attention back to my textbook. The chapter on the Inuzuka clan was pretty cool. Their dogs were even more intelligent than I thought they were. Basically little people. I kind of wanted one for myself. Maybe Kiba could hook me up.

A pot clattered nearby and I glanced up to find Sakura’s dad—my dad—had pulled mom into a surprise hug, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling him into her. He whispered something into her ear that made her gasp and smack him, and a small smile crossed my face as they talked in hushed voices too quiet for me to hear.

I watched them over my cereal as my dad spun my mom around the kitchen in what was apparently an impromptu dance. She laughed, slapping at his chest with the back of a dish towel, and he caught her wrist and kissed her knuckles.

It was gross, but also kind of nice. I didn’t have memories of this from before. Whatever life I’d lived before I ended up here, it hadn’t included anything like this. There was a vague sense of loneliness surrounding vaguer memories. There was an apartment, maybe? And… a cat? Or was it a dog? The strongest parts of my old life that remained swirled around with Sakura’s, and it was hard to parse the specific details beyond a healthy relationship with cheap wine, and a bone-deep tiredness that only grew stronger by the day.

And now I was a twelve-year-old child soldier. Was that downgrading, or more of a lateral step?

I lifted my spoon, holding it up to my eyes and watching as milk sloughed out of the shiny bowl, leaving behind only a bit of soggy cereal. I reached out with my other hand, pressing my thumb to the smooth surface and sticking it there with chakra. When I lifted it, the spoon stuck fast.

I stared at it. This little impossibility held within my grasp. It was such a simple thing to do, but I knew that it was just the beginning of what was possible with the incredible power hidden underneath my skin. I’d seen fields of fire scouring away any and all life, blades of wind strong enough to cut down entire forests and then some. I’d watched as men killed their friends under the suspicion that they might not be who they say they are, and the same friend brought back from the brink of death with a wave of a hand.

And all of it was thanks to the same power that kept a dirty spoon from falling off of my finger.

The spoon clinked against the bowl as I let it drop. Milk splashed and I wiped it up with a finger before bringing the spoon back to my mouth and taking another bite.

I’d asked the Hokage if I could simply resign. It seemed like a reasonable enough request to me. Hey, sorry, I know I just took the test and all, but I’ve had a change of heart and would like to go back to being a normal kid, thanks. Turns out it didn’t work like that. Ninja were contracted with the military, and with that contract came all the normal stipulations, plus a few extra thrown in for good measure. You couldn’t just quit. Hell, even deserters occasionally found a position serving the state, usually as practice dummies in the bottom levels of T&I. The only ways to really get out involved a body bag or a wheelchair, and I wasn’t particularly interested in either option. I was in it for the long haul, and that really only left one choice.

Work my butt off until I was the baddest kunoichi around. To that end...

“Hey, Mama,” I said, as my mom finally managed to pry Dad off of her. “Can I get an advance on my next allowance?”

Mom raised an eyebrow, fanning her flushed face with the dish towel. “An advance? What happened to the money you just got?”

I gestured vaguely with my spoon. “I still have it. But I just figured, you know, since I’m finally a ninja, maybe it’s time to spend a little extra on supplies?”

Mom’s eyebrows rose so high they nearly disappeared into her hairline. She shared a look with Dad. When she turned my way, she was smiling softly.

“Sure sweetie. Whatever you need.”

“Thank you.” I chirped, before turning back to my book, already going through a list of things I would need to pick up. Before, I had been more concerned with the quality of my makeup than the sharpness of my tools, but these memories told me that the path to survival meant keeping a sharp kunai and a sharper sense for danger. One of those would have to be developed over time, but I could get the kunai, at least..

Huh. The book said the Inuzuka were even less likely to turn traitor compared to other Konoha shinobi. Apparently loyalty to the pack went for the village as well. Good for them.