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

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?

[medicalpunch]

[Sakura's soaking wet, but at least it's a warm day. It's startling, though -- Kushina's surprise.]

Yes, it's me. Was I gone that long...?

[It isn't like they've been best friends or anything yet, but she didn't think she was that forgettable...]

[fervidity]

[YET.]

N-No... only a few days or so. Naruto acted like it was forever.

[Lee, too.]

You look different with pink hair. I didn't recognize you at first.

[It would be like dying her own hair black. Red and pink hair just stood out.

And she would remember that marking on her forehead as her mentor and jinchuriki before her, Uzumaki Mito, had it.

She's staring at it a bit, at a loss for words.]

[medicalpunch]

Oh, right, the hair... [Man, she'd almost forgotten about that. Between having gone home and forgotten everything, and having the lingering memories of the event leap back into place when the rest of her Luceti memories returned...]

It... it's back to normal, now. [Instead of being all crazy colors with pink roots.

But she doesn't miss Kushina's gaze on her forehead, either, and rubs the seal a little self-consciously.]

[fervidity]

[Aw, Sakura.

She has to wonder why she changed it then if this was her natural hair, but the rubbing of the seal stops her from asking.

Instead she smiles a little, reassuring.]

My mentor, Mito-sama, had a marking just like that. I didn't think I'd see it again and it reminds me of her.

She was the strongest woman I knew.

[Sakura must be incredibly strong and talented herself to have it.]

[medicalpunch]

Your mentor? [Curiouser and curiouser] It was my mentor who taught me how to create it... Tsunade-shishou. She's pretty strong too! I wonder...

[The name 'Mito' sounds a little familiar, but right now, Sakura's a little too rattled to recall someone mentioned briefly and in very little detail in the academy's lessons on Konoha history.]

[fervidity]

[Tsunade. The only normal one of the Legendary Sannin. Not too hard to accomplish though with a pervert and a creepy snake guy as her teammates.]

Makes sense. Mito-sama was Tsunade's grandmother, I think.

And Tsunade had to be strong to knock Jiraiya-sensei around for all his peeping, ya know?

[medicalpunch]

[Aww, family connections!]

Does that make us like... mentor-cousins or something? [She can't help smiling a little at that.]

Oh, she did that and quite a lot more. Still will. [Because Tsunade's still okay. She's gonna hold onto that conviction until she learns otherwise. And she won't. Because Tsunade's okay.]

[fervidity]

[Still will? Good. Hearing about Jiraiya's death was tough enough even if he was a perv. Kushina liked Tsunade and if she had died too...

Orochimaru was creepy though and she doesn't think she would miss him at all.]

I guess it could, but I didn't get a forehead seal like you did.

[She thumbs at her forehead. Instead, she got a different sort of seal with a hidden power just like Sakura. Only this sort of power was something she couldn't really use with good conscious.

Kushina definitely believes that. Tsunade had a temper as bad as she did, and she was twice as terrifying. Having a title as one of the Legendary Sannin was a bit more intimidating and important than something a bunch of beat up boys came up with.]

[medicalpunch]

From someone of Tsunade's family, I'm sure you got quite a lot else, though!

[She doesn't know -- she really doesn't, and if she did, she wouldn't be nearly so flippant about it.]

It's taken a really long time for me to be able to awaken it, though. My chakra's not much to boast about, ordinarily.

[fervidity]

[It's okay. Most people didn't even know anything about it at all. Her fingers just twitch a little and she carries on. With an half-smile and nod of agreement.

SHE SURE DID.]

Having special chakra isn't all that great.

[People want to kidnap you and put bijuus in you.]

Not having it hasn't stopped people from doing great things. [She gestures to her forehead seal again with a more genuine smile.]

[medicalpunch]

[You know... given who she's on a team with, that's pretty nice for Sakura to hear.]

I do my best with that. This... [She touches the seal,] isn't really special chakra, just a way to manage it to do more.

[fervidity]

Maybe not.

[She faces the lake, thinks about Mito again, and Tsunade, and now Sakura.]

But it takes a special person, doesn't it?

[medicalpunch]

I guess... [She's not about to downplay what an accomplishment it's been, meeting and surpassing all the expectations Tsunade has set for her. But it's also strange to think of herself as 'special.' Naruto is special, Sasuke is special. She's... just Sakura, not even from a ninja family.]

[fervidity]

It does.

[There's a nudge. She doesn't tell Sakura to have more confidence in herself (that's Ino thing) but she'll support her in her own way.]

Hey, I have an idea to dry you off.

[Suddenly she stands up and tugs on Sakura's hand.]

[medicalpunch]

Oh?

[An idea other than 'go to shop, find towel'? She's curious about this.]

What do you have in mind?

[fervidity]

Just stand still.

[And she'll take a step back...

Suck in a huge breath and

BLOW REALLY HARD like she did in Road to Ninja to put out some candles. So Sakura gets a huge gust of wind to attempt and dry her off.]

[medicalpunch]

[Eek! Sakura braces herself against the wind, startled at just how strong it is. Then again, she shouldn't really be surprised, should she? Naruto's mother...

She's not dry afterward, but she is notably less damp, which... hey, that's progress in the right direction! And the sundress isn't clinging to her quite so inappropriately anymore.]

Th-thanks!

[fervidity]

[Well, she definitely looks more dry than before.]

It's something. [She's not dripping wet now, so she's less susceptible to catch a cold.

Kushina still looks bothered.]

I wish I had something dry to offer you, Sakura. You shouldn't be walking around drenched like that.

[medicalpunch]

Are my things still in the apartment? I've got plenty of dry clothes. Or we can just run over to the clothing shop, if they've all vanished. [She plucks at the damp sundress.] I'm not very fond of this thing, anyway.

[fervidity]

...Clothes just vanish?

[COULD MAKE FOR GOOD PRANKING]

[medicalpunch]

Well, people's belongings have a way of not always sticking around when they go. [Not all of them, not always, but it's enough to be concerned about.]

[fervidity]

[She knew her clothes ended up in a shop when she arrived here so she KNOWS clothes had that tendency but actual clothes hanging in a closet just disappearing is new. And just as weird.

So she frowns. Since she would want Naruto or Minato to take care of her things if she ever--

Better not think of that. She's been here for almost 6 months already.]

If they're gone, I think I've got some things you can borrow until you find your own again.