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]

Thank you! There's really nothing like your mother's cooking, I have to say.

[believeit]

Yeah, it's great! I brought some ramen [Obviously] and there's bread! And some.. i dunno.. bun thingies. And- [Whatever is in this tub he doesn't know.] yeah. It's food.

[medicalpunch]

[Of course he brought ramen.] Well, I guess we'll find out when we eat them, huh? C'mon, let me get you something to drink.

[believeit]

Mmm! You have plates, right? [And maybe chopsticks, or forks or something.]

[medicalpunch]

Of course! I'll get dishes... [And that's her, bustling away to get utensils and dishes. Not really her natural habitat so much, this, but reconnecting with Naruto will be nice. It's such a different thing, compared to at home.]

[believeit]

[It's nice to just hang out and do mundane things once in a while. He has his tubs of food opened up anyway, ready to be dished out once she's back.]

Hey, one time we should get Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei to come eat with us too. When was the last time we did that, huh?

[Not today though, he is perfectly happy with this being Naruto and Sakura time if the constant smiles on his face are anything to go by.]

[medicalpunch]

We should. [If Sasuke will agree to it; she has some doubts about that, but maybe... maybe, if he's changed enough, if he's willing enough to be a part of them again. And if they catch him on a good day.] It's been too long.

[It's good to see Naruto smiling this much. Even just a short time back home, in the middle of the battle... She might be frustrated at being stuck here again, but at least there's a measure of peace and happiness.]

[believeit]

[He has the same doubts too. Maybe they should just move the picnic to Sasuke's apartment then he can't escape it. Heh.]

Yeah, it has! [And don't mind him as he decides to kick his sandals off across the floor, looks like he's planning on staying a while.] You know when Kakashi-sensei was staying at ours when he first got here? You know he even sleeps with that stupid mask on??

[Naruto may have tried (and failed) to see underneath it. Several times :|]

[medicalpunch]

[Oh, that'll surely end well.]

You know, it doesn't surprise me at all. And let me guess, you still didn't manage to get a look under it, did you? [Quite fine, put your feet up and stay a while, teammate. They should do more of this.]

[believeit]

[Cue a pout, as he does indeed sit down and put his feet up.]

.....He kept waking up. [That was a no.]

[medicalpunch]

Well, he is a jounin. You're not going to find a lot of deep sleepers at that rank.

[believeit]

One day, we should.. you know. Do that thing again.

[That thing where they try and see under his mask.]

[medicalpunch]

We should!

[It's really immature, but it'd be a nice bit of nostalgia.]

Maybe we could even get Sasuke in on it again.

[believeit]

Yeah!

[But oh-- that thought makes him snicker a bit]

Do you reckon he would?

[medicalpunch]

I don't know for sure. [Sasuke's a pretty serious guy, even more so than he used to be. But he also seems less angry. So maybe?] But it's worth seeing if he wants in.

[believeit]

We should try it. Y'know, try to catch him in a good mood or something.

[....]

I mean a better mood than usual.

[medicalpunch]

[Okay, that was funny. Pardon her a moment while she enjoys a fit of the giggles.

...

Okay, better now.]

I think that's a reasonable approximation of 'good' mood when it comes to Sasuke. Let's do it!

[believeit]

Yeah! [He lets out a little cheer and a fist pump into the air.]

Maybe we should ask him together. [Maybe he would be less grouchy if Sakura was there too??]

[medicalpunch]

That's the best way. Team effort! [Maybe he would be! Naruto by himself seems to be really good at hitting all of Sasuke's 'pissed off' buttons.]

[believeit]

Great!! [He is SO PUMPED for this even if it hasn't happened yet. It just seems really fun and it will be nice to do something that reminds them of the old days, yeah?]