4th Punch

[medicalpunch]

[After Luceti Valley fades away, Sakura spends a couple days hunting down her patients, healing anyone who asks for it, trying to wrap her head around the changes she went through, trying to reestablish herself as Haruno Sakura, medic-nin of Konoha.

But when the morning dawns, two days after Luceti returned to normal, Sakura is gone.

A week or so passes, with no Sakura in evidence.  And then...]

[Action - By the river]

[That sure is a yelp, a flash of white, and a very loud splash as Sakura lands squarely in the river.  For a second she sinks, too startled at the abrupt change of scenery to react, and then she starts kicking toward the surface, the skirt of her dress clinging around her legs and interfering with the movement.  It'd be tempting to take a kunai to it... if she had one on her.  As it is, she doesn't .  Whoops.

She breaks the surface, gasping and shaking water out of her eyes, then pauses to stare at the village, a scowl on her face.]

Really?  Really?  I get sent home for all of an hour at best, and then this again?

[There are a couple visible changes to her -- her hair has lost all the black and red dye again, back to its normal pink from root to tip, and there's a blue diamond mark in the center of her forehead now, one that will look awfully familiar to any Konoha-nin who know her teacher.] 

I guess I should be grateful.  [She snorts]  At least it isn't the dead of winter this time. 


[Video - A little later] 

[Sakura's dry and dressed again, and she takes to the journals, flipping through it for a long moment to figure out just how long she was gone.  Not long -- a matter of days, she guesses, maybe a week or two -- but sure as heck longer than she was home!]

Hey everyone.  I'm back.  Guess they just couldn't do without me after all.  

Hinata - I hope you haven't given my room away in a week!  [She's trying to make a joke, okay.  Even if coming back from the battlefield again makes joking the last thing she wants to do.]

Sasuke... I'd like to talk to you at some point. 

[A flash of something unreadable crosses her face, and then she shakes her head.]

Everyone else... well, I hope you didn't miss me too much!

Comments

[Text]

[twinlionfists]

As far as I know, Sakura-san, our apartment should be as it was before the...experiment.

[Text]

[medicalpunch]

Ugh. That thing.

[Having gone home has given her a little bit of distance from it, but now that she's back, she feels those false memories just waiting in the back of her head again.]

Well, I'm glad no one else took it over, at least! Though I guess I wasn't gone long enough for another New Feather surge to come through.

Are you doing all right?

[Text]

[twinlionfists]

[Hinata wishes she had the luxury of being home to forget about forgetting about Naruto-kun and the rest of the garbage that came along with that experiment.]

No, you haven't been gone long enough for the New Feathers to show up.

....

........

I will live.

[medicalpunch]

[Unfortunately, it's not very good forgetting. But at least it's a layer of insulation, though a layer full of battle and death. She's not sure if it's a worthwhile trade or not.]

That's a pretty low expectation for healing. If you want, I'd be happy to offer a boost to that...

[Which only helps with the healing of Hinata's injured arm. The rest of it... the rest of it, she can't really help with.]

vidja forever 1/2

[floralogy]

[This definitely got Ino's attention. She's browsing her journal when this comes up.]

Sakura? You're back?

[...]

And you remember your time here... Now that's rare. [Ino's face hogs the little screen as she squints to take a better look at Sakura's surroundings.] Anyway, where are you? Don't tell me--

[floralogy]

--WHAT'S THAT ON YOUR FOREHEAD??

[medicalpunch]

I'm at the clothing shop right now -- they dumped me in the river again, those dirtbags!

[But she can't help the grin at Ino's reaction.]

What, do I have a smudge?

[Teeeeasing for you, Ino-pig]

video 1/2

[believeit]

SAKURA-CHAN!!! YOU'RE BACK!!

[Hey maybe whatever ridiculous plan he and Lee constructed to bring her back actually worked.]

[believeit]

[And then:]

WHY'RE YOU ASKING ABOUT SASUKE AND NOT ME?

1/2

[medicalpunch]

Yes, I'm back. After not nearly long enough. [And yet in other ways, even a few minutes of battle is too long.

But more importantly...]

Because...

[Oh, wait. This is team stuff. She hurriedly slaps up a filter.]

A...ction...? Idk was there a planned person there

[generalflirt]

[You know who hangs out on this one bridge he emos on from time to time? This guy. Okay so he's done that less this year than any other year to date, but the point is, he saw Sakura's entrance, or at very least sees her crawling out of the water. And as such, he leaps off the bridge to touch down at the bank-]

Sakura-chan?

The more the merrier! I believe in concurrent timelines

[medicalpunch]

[And almost immediately there's someone speaking to her. Of course they wouldn't have dropped her somewhere isolated, of course she's going to be coping with a sopping wet, white sundress. Of course.

By which she means, the Malnosso need to go die in a fire.]

Masaomi?

[She's crossing her arms over her chest -- not for the cold, but to deal with the sundress. Ugh.]

okay awesome

[generalflirt]

You got it, the merry wanderer and insatiable lover known as Masaomi Kida has come to greet you back, it seems.

[He says this with an airy tone, waving his hand as he walks towards he. He knows he should be more awkward than he does. But as it stands he's just pleased to see her]

[Action]

[niceguypose]

[Behold, the majestic Rock Lee in his natural habitat as he swims his way against the current of the river, not unlike a trout. He's wearing only his swimming trunks of youth, with his jumpsuit dangling from a nearby tree.

And, so intent is he on his task and his training, that he does not notice an impending collision with the newly-appeared Sakura until it is too late to stop it.]

[medicalpunch]

[And it's a mid-water collision! Sakura yelps as Lee goes plowing into her, then coughs and spits water out, clawing furiously to keep her head above water.]

H-hey! Watch where you're going!

[niceguypose]

[He tries to backpeddle quickly and apologetically.]

I am so sorry! I am unaware of where I was going! [But he blinks. This... is a very familiar person. Could it be...?] Ah...?

action; CONCURRENCY

[fervidity]

[Kushina is training on this river. After her teaching session with Naruto, she noticed that her jutsu were not as strong as they should be. She's gathering up chakra and concentrating intensely when Sakura makes her entrance by way of loud splashing.]

What the hell! ['ttebane!!!

WELP concentration FULLY BROKEN NOW and she sort of watches the ripples warily until someone with pink hair suddenly appears and starts grumbling to themselves. That's... crappy luck to turn up here again AND get doused in a river. Poor girl.

Red Hot-Blooded Habenero to the rescue.

Kushina walks across the river until she's closer and because of the hair change (and she doesn't have a really good look at the face) she doesn't realize it's Sakura. Gurl, why did you dye your hair it's nice pink.

When she's nearby, she holds a hand out in front of her from her spot on the surface.]

Here. Take my hand. I'll take you to shore.

[medicalpunch]

[Blame the Malnosso. It was a Shift thing. And don't ask.

She'd protest she can swim just fine, but Kushina's help isn't unwelcome, what with the sudden shock of getting dumped in. Plus, swimming in a dress is a pain.]

Thanks...

[She grabs Kushina's hand to be pulled to shore, kicking along to help out.]

Ugh, they seem to think they're funny or something.

[fervidity]

People have weird senses of humor sometimes. Don't worry, we'll get some dry clothes for you.

[They reach the bank and Kushina wishes she had a jacket AT LEAST to help.

Her head tilts to the side, brow pinching together for a few reasons. First of all, she doesn't know the 'they' she's referring to. Second, she feels like she knows this person. Definitely talked to her before at some point.

It takes a moment for it to set in.

GIVE HER A SECOND, EYES WIDENING]

...Sakura?

[Action for more concurrent funtimes!]

[elongatedsmile]

[Well this blue scaled covered creature had been trying to nap at the bottom of that river. Suddenly there was a pair of feet slamming on the top of her head. As Sakura kicks to the top so does she. She breaks the surface with a snarl and rubs at the top of her head.]

That hurt!

[medicalpunch]

[Yeah, she felt her feet hit something that was definitely not river bottom. Thanks, Malnosso.]

Sorry! I didn't do it on purpose. [As she tries to push wet hair out of her eyes.]

[elongatedsmile]

[She really should be getting use to this. The long limb girl that Sakura landed on is currently dressed in a men's orange work shirt. It's ripped almost completely down the middle of the back to make way for not only her small blue Luceti wings, but her big white set. She has a pair of big baggy pair of purple gym shorts. So dressing herself is something she needs a lot more work on.]

At least you can swim. Or do you need help getting to shore?

[Video]

[fashionably_strong]

Welcome back, Sakura.

[Pause.]

...they actually sent you home and brought you back? I hope you got the chance to relax while you were there.

[medicalpunch]

They did -- and no, I didn't get to. I was home for maybe half an hour, if that long, and it was... well. [How can she even sum it all up.] 'Relaxing' is about the last word I'd choose.

[fashionably_strong]

...well, that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that, Sakura.

[Pause.]

I like the little diamond on your forehead. Was it for a special reason, or...?

[She trails off with an inquisitive look on her face. She's never seen anything like that, and she doesn't know if it was put on with makeup or if it's there for some other reason.]