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

[medicalpunch]

[She'd like to punch him a little more, but it seems like he's learned his lesson.]

Two weeks... hm. And barely an hour back home.

[Which leaves a whole lot of things very fresh indeed.]

[niceguypose]

[He blinks as he stands there, wading in the water.]

An... an hour? Beyond... what we've experienced?

[medicalpunch]

Maybe. No one's exactly watching clocks, I'll say that. But it wasn't long.

[Long enough to see a few things -- a few important things -- but at the same time... now it's even worse, in a way, being snatched away from it all.]

[niceguypose]

[He looks on nervously.]

Sakura-san... This matter would be better discussed on dry land.

[He immediately hops up to the riverbank, himself.]

[medicalpunch]

You're right about that.

[She pulls herself up after him, crossing her arms protectively over her chest. It'll mean an extra second if she has to punch him again, but this way she's not showing off what little goods she has for the world.]

More specifically, in dry clothes.

[Pause.]

Or in your case, in clothes at all.

[niceguypose]

Ah... Y-yes. Perhaps... Yes, my clothes are nearby! [He does a quick backflip onto the riverbank, where his jumpsuit is hanging from a tree nearby.]

[medicalpunch]

Yes, put them on, please.

[And wish her own clothes were as close at hand. That would be nice. A wet white sundress is not even a little decent! ... And it's something to think about other than how she's quietly watching Lee when he turns his back. You can't say a taijutsu-only regimen is bad for the build, that's for sure...]

[niceguypose]

Ok! [He gives a thumbs up. Although he's a little cautious - it feels like someone is very observantly scanning him. An enemy, perhaps? But he tugs jumpsuit down from the tree and hesitates for a moment. He turns and holds it out.]

If you'd like... You can wear this instead, Sakura-san! I guarantee total warmth and flexibility! Your need is greater than mine, after all...

[medicalpunch]

Cautious, cautious!]

What? No, no! That's fine. You put it on. I've got a little more to wear than underwear, after all... [Which makes her blush slightly, her own verbal reminder of just how unclothed Lee is.]

[niceguypose]

Ah, your- yes. [He looks down with a blush and a frown.]

I will...

[And he just dashes away to get changed.]

Ugh god somehow when I edited that comment like half of it got deleted, so mad

[medicalpunch]

[She waits for him, arms crossed over her chest as she slowly drips toward dry. At least there's sunlight to keep her warm and help the process along!]

[niceguypose]

[And Rock Lee soon dashes back, fully garbed. Greeting with a full smile and a thumbs up.]

Sakura-san! I have returned.

[medicalpunch]

Much better. [Now if only she were less wet.] Now, where were we?

[niceguypose]

Ah... We were discussing the matters of home. Or... Did you prefer to get yourself dressed first? [Either way, he starts to walk in the direction of the village as they talk.]

[medicalpunch]

[She follows along beside him willingly enough as they head into the village.]

We can talk on the way, unless you've moved all across Luceti in the time I've been gone.

[niceguypose]

Of course I have not moved my home! A blooming lotus needs deep roots after all. I am perfectly amicable towards a... "talk-and-movement".

[medicalpunch]

[The things Lee says... She can't help her laugh at it, even though it feels strange to laugh, back in Luceti, back away from the battlefield, with everything refreshed or dulled or mixed-up in her mind.]

Next thing I know, you'll be walking and chewing gum at the same time, too!

[niceguypose]

Really? I am not sure that would be beneficial to my health, Sakura-san. [The lightness is appreciated. And he loves her laugh. The uncertainty of whatever transpired at home still does weigh over Lee as he walks along.]

[medicalpunch]

And putting your health at risk will bring Shishou down on your head like a ton of bricks. [She laughs again when she says it, but there is that dark cloud hanging over them, the thought of what's going on back home.

She can't totally hold him in suspense, so after savoring the levity for a moment, she lets herself slide more serious.]

There's... there's some home. We've gotten some reinforcements. Good ones. But...

[But it still might not be enough.]

[niceguypose]

[He becomes more serious as she changes the subject.]

But...? Sakura-san... Have we lost anyone else? [He asks quietly. He figures that this time, it's best to get the bad news out of the way first.]

[medicalpunch]

[The important question.]

... No one else of... of our group, at least. [She feels terrible putting it that way, as plenty of people have died and continue to die around them, but she knows that's what Lee is ultimately asking. Anyone they care about. Anyone whose absence will be felt as keenly from their circle of friends as Neji.]

[niceguypose]

[There's a slight relief at that. No more bad news for now. Of course, people are dying. Just not those he's met personally, who are near and dear to his heart. He feels guilty thinking of it that way. But there's relief none the less.]

I see. Thank you, Sakura-san. [He trusts her - after what happened last time, and with him asking directly from the get-go, he doesn't think she is hiding anything from him this time.]

Do you believe that the situation is improving?

[medicalpunch]

[Now that one, at least, she can answer with confidence.]

Yes. It's improving. We've... we've gotten some new help. We've got a real chance.

[Both the help of the four Hokage, and the morale boost of Sasuke's return -- okay, it isn't a morale boost for everyone necessarily, but... for Naruto, it definitely is. And Naruto's the one who's really going to win this for them, isn't he?]

[niceguypose]

I am certainly glad to hear that. With all of our power of youth combined, I truly believe that we can push on towards victory!

[But Sakura's words also give him pause - he remembers the story given out by Sasuke, after all. Is this a chance to confirm it as truth?]

This new help you mention...

[medicalpunch]

I certainly hope so.

[The new help -- yes. She's willing to let this bit of news out.]

Sasuke came back. And he brought some Edo Tensei resurrected with him. They're on our side, though. The previous Hokage, all four of them.

We've got a chance. A real chance, no matter how powerful the Juubi is...