[Luceti] Appointments

[medicalpunch]

[For all those interactions that don't get a whole separate post all to their lonesomes, or for continuing log threads that don't belong on a community post for whatever reason.]

Comments

[Action - February 21st]

[niceguypose]

[Some time has passed since the end of the Valentines. Since Lee's feelings have... adjusted. And much of this time has been spent gripped by guilt and fear, about how dismissive and outright rude he had been towards Sakura. He knew he had to atone, but he was too afraid to see her.

Even though she lived next door to them, being a ninja comes with many ways to avoid someone when the time calls for it. He'd taken to leaving through the window each day to avoid bumping into her. But this could not last. And on this day, he steeled himself up to confront Sakura.

Early that morning, he stood in the hallway outside her apartment's door, rigid and petrified. After staring it down for a minute, he very quickly made a soft rap on her door. Then he found himself jogging in place for whatever period of time would pass before she opened the door.]

1/2

[medicalpunch]

[The knock on her door while she's just getting ready for the day surprises Sakura -- but she's not the kind of person to ignore it just because she's not fully presentable yet. The long, silky bathrobe she found at the item store is perfectly decent in a sheer staying-covered kind of way, and that knock didn't sound like an urgent call for medical aid.

So she goes to the door and opens it... to find Lee there, and a sudden stir of a whole hell of a lot of mixed feelings. She's not obsessed with him the way she was for those few past days, but the memory of his words still smarts, and a part of her is tempted to slam the door in his face and be done with it.]

[medicalpunch]

[But she resists the urge; he looks too nervous and hangdog for her to quite do that to him. But her expression and her tone speak volumes about how pleased she is to see him.]

Lee. Can I help you?

[The change in her appearance alone should be a rebuke to him for his words -- dyed dark hair, and light bangs feathering over her forehead to camoflauge it.]

[niceguypose]

[He almost cringes as the door opens. Instead, his mouth gapes while his eyes dart around all of the differences from usual. The - the bathrobe. And... hair of a different color... could it be?]

Ah! S-Sakura-san. Good morning! I... I'm... Your hair has transformed!

[Action, March 14th]

[generalflirt]

[White Day. This year, as last year, he really didn't get that many chocolates, at all. But he did get a very important one from a girl he's basically been avoiding since. They had that encounter earlier in that week, the events of Valentines, and they might have bumped into each other on the 18th too when he decided not to go to the spa though we didn't thread that but the emotions that all dredged up were... yeah. So it was easier to try to avoid her a little despite her being a neighbor.

But today he does fairly owe her repayment. He's not super confident he could awake before her to ambush her that way, so instead later in the afternoon he goes in early to lean against her door, waiting for her to get back to her apartment from whatever she was doing that day. He brought a book, but honestly, he didn't really get to reading it. So he's mostly sitting, waiting to catch her when she comes back for dinner or after dinner to her apartment]

[medicalpunch]

[She's coming home a little earlier than usual; a pulled muscle during training took her up short, and although she's already taken care of it, she's happy to be done.

So she's strolling back to her apartment when she sees Masaomi waiting for her -- and despite herself, she does brighten a little.]

Masaomi! Were you waiting for me? [She can't imagine another reason why he'd be out in the hall, and leaning against her door at that....]

[Action, July 24th]

[generalflirt]

[ Masaomi is back from both of his missions and he is... hungry. Well okay so he's already done a little bit of settling in with his apartment complex. And now it's much later in the month and he has to get that dating thing off the ground.

Really, he feels a little inspired. Two dates before the trip, and then something special on board the ship, even. Which is probably why an idea strikes him when he sees Sakura in the community kitchen later in the day.

First things first though - he announces his arrival with] Heyo, Sakura-chan. Been a while.

[At least 11 days since he's been in this barrier so there's that]

[medicalpunch]

Hi, Masaomi.

[She sets aside the pan she was washing and gives him a smile.]

It has been. You were gone for a little bit?

[medicalpunch]

[Continued from here]


[Once they get to the dance, she's practically vibrating with excitement. Shikamaru's right -- she does miss school, and the ability to recapture that feeling, if only for a night... well, it's still blissful. And it's romantic, and she has her husband with her...]

[endgames]

[There's socializing to do first, once they get in. Shikamaru wanted to bring Sakura here tonight just because he knew how much she missed school, and her friends, so he doesn't mind this. If anything, he encourages it, knowing how happy it'll make her.

While she's off chattering away with the girls, he takes the opportunity to say hi to some of his old underclassmen who are seniors this year. No one was expecting them, so it causes quite a stir among some - luckily Naruto has their back. He wanders back to her before long, two cups in hand and possibly interrupting some conversation.]

Punch?

[medicalpunch]

[Continued from here]

Do you really think it's going to be anything other than awkward, having me as your cleaning lady?

[She makes herself say it gently, though; it isn't like Ino is doing this to mock or offend her, and the truth is, most of the food in the little Harukawa kitchen is there thanks to Ino's help.]

Whatever I end up doing, it'll be better than what Shikamaru's doing to keep us afloat. Even a 'snotty aristocrat' is better than ten hours a day in that awful factory.

[And the worst part is, they really shouldn't even be in Lowtown anyway. If Shikamaru's father hadn't abandoned him and Makie...]

[floralogy]

Seriously? Do you really think a 'snotty aristocrat' would be better?

[Because she knows some of these snotty aristocrats and while she's acquaintances with some thanks to parties, she's not going to risk her little sister's future in their hands.]

If you work for me, it won't be like work at all and you get paid. You don't know these 'snotty aristocrats', Sakura, as much as I do. I assure you, you're going to regret ending up with one.

[post-event]

[believeit]

[It's the day after everything had finally turned back to 'normal', and there was certainly a lot going on in Naruto's mind. His time in Luceti so far had been fairly quiet and, well, normal up until this. Of course, being Naruto, it was the fact that he had been married to Tenten and had fake children that occupied most of his confusion.

Wanting to talk to someone about it, he sought out Sakura. She had been here for a while after all and as a team mate, one of the people he found it easier to talk to. Plus, she's also been married to Shikamaru so there's also that.

There's a knock knock knock as he taps on the door to her apartment.]

[medicalpunch]

[Sakura's been pretty reclusive with most people -- especially Shikamaru -- since the Shift ended, but there are a few people she'll welcome pretty readily. Teammates are first among them, always. So when the knock comes, she answers the door, offering a relieved smile when she sees it's Naruto there, and Naruto not looking like he's in the mood to be a pest, even better.]

Naruto? Come on in.

[And she steps back to welcome him.]

[ Action - December 26 - Mistletoe]

[ura_no_ura]

[ Selecting a present for Sakura was far more difficult than selecting one for Naruto or Sasuke. Picking out presents isn't something Kakashi's ever been very good at when it comes to women, especially his own student. It originally seemed like a good idea to do this "Christmas" thing, even a little late, because the idea of the holiday... seemed nice.

It took quite a while, but eventually Kakashi settled on making Sakura a few instructional scrolls on genjutsu. Even though she originally was a genjutsu type, Sakura never had the opportunity to use genjutsu, especially under Tsunade's tutelage. Maybe now in Luceti, it might not hurt for her to broaden her range of knowledge.

It's a far better present than any of the girly things Kakashi had thought about maybe getting her, like a new coat or a scarf. At least, he can demonstrate that he values her as a kunoichi as much as anyone else.

So here he is, knocking on her door. He has a small red bag filled with the scrolls and also a small jar of umeboshi he had to get from the item shop, which he wrapped a silver ribbon around. ]

[medicalpunch]

[She answers the door, and when she sees Kakashi her eyes light up.]

Kakashi-sensei!

[It's not at all usual for him to drop by for a visit like this, but the bag and jar he's holding are rather new.

In her delight to see him, the effect of the discreet little sprig of greenery tucked into the top of the doorframe isn't immediately noticeable.]

voice - january 20 - after dealing with mistletoe consequences

[ura_no_ura]

[ It's a curt message. All business. ]

Sakura, I need you to meet me at Flame Building. Eighth floor, apartment 36. I have Iruka-sensei here with me, and he's injured. He could use your help.

[medicalpunch]

[See, this? This is easy to deal with. This is all business.]

I'm on my way.

voice - january 15 - 100% filtered

[ura_no_ura]

[ It's taken him a long time to work up the ability to do this. Reaching out to his students after what he did to them has been difficult. Almost impossible. He kept telling himself it'd be far easier to just pretend as though it never happened; surely, they all must have fallen victim to the mistletoe more than once, and it would be easy to wave it off as some strange, unfortunate event that they should just quickly forget about.

But he knows that at the end of the day, he still owes them all an apology. Still needs to make this right, even if it's taken him a while to actually get around to doing it.

The voice message starts out with a very long pause as Kakashi tries to think of what to say.

Ends up just saying: ]

Sakura. We need to talk.

filtered

[medicalpunch]

[She doesn't respond immediately when she gets the message; for a long time, she just stares at the journal entry, a frown planted on her face, trying to decide how she wants to handle this.

She's still angry about the whole thing, and as much as she knows that Kakashi's not at all to blame for what happened -- he was just as much a victim as she was -- she still has to fight the urge to answer with anger.

But she doesn't do it; she waits until the anger cools down, and then responds, her voice flat and obviously uncomfortable.]

Do we have to?

Video, Feb 9th

[believeit]

Sakura-chan, you've gotta help me study for the Jounin exams! Err- I mean, we should study together! Yeah- that's it!

Do you know anything about... let's see.. [He's reading something written down by the looks of it.]

....The ninja rules verbatim, important theories...theorems of combat strategy, the five hundred fifty five laws of defense.....

Sixty-seven formulas of battle.....

Battle strategies for the essays... I think I can do that one on my own... what does he mean by analyze famous fights??

Help!!

[Your team mate sure did get trolled by Kakashi.]

1/2

[medicalpunch]

[She listens to this message and laughs. It's pretty obvious that Kakashi's trolling, but given what their written exam for chuunin was like, it sounds just plausible enough for her to run with, despite her inexperience on the "trolling one's teammates" front.]

Video

[medicalpunch]

[When she opens the video to respond, though, she makes sure her expression is quite serious.]

I don't know, Naruto... are you sure you're supposed to ask me that? A jounin is supposed to know all of this information already, from experience and lots of learning. Don't you think getting the answers from me would be like cheating?

action [morning after NARUTO MALLYNap]

[fervidity]

[Sakura is one of the first people Kushina contacts beside Kakashi. She's his teammate so if anyone (other than herself and Minato) knows where he is, it would be her.

Added to that fact is Naruto has a crush on her; If Naruto was just like her, he would be spending a lot of time around the person he liked.

So she knocks on Sakura's door at the earliest in the morning as deemed polite.

Then she waits -- the hardest part about it all.]

[medicalpunch]

[Sakura's up, and comes to the door with a steaming mug of tea in one hand.]

Kushina-san?

[Much like her son, Kushina's not all that hard to read; it's immediately evident that something's pretty wrong here.]

What's wrong? Come in, come in...

[She beckons Kushina into the apartment, worried.]