Chapter Text
Chapter 4
Sakura was breathing hard by the time they got back to the mission office. Sasuke was still holding Tora, not willing to risk Naruo letting the cat escape and Kakashi had just appeared without warning, trailing silently behind them as they walked. The quartet entered the office and handed the cat over to its overweight owner who immediately crushed it in her arms and buried her face into the cat’s fur.
“Oh my dear Tora thank heavens you’re alright!” The woman exclaimed dramatically and Sakura glanced at the blatant animal abuse, no longer wondering why the cat had run away.
‘If she has the influence to hire ninjas to retrieve her cat, I don’t want to piss her off.’ Sakura thought to herself, keeping her mouth shut and her eyes forward on the chunin behind the desk. The man had his brown hair in a ponytail and a scar across his nose. ‘There’s something familiar about him.’ She thought, wondering how the hell she knew him but not being able to place it.
“Well congratulations on your mission Team 7!” The man said happily, offering them all pay slips. “Now please fill out the mission reports.” The man passed out four scrolls and Sakura glanced down at hers before looking around for a pen.
‘Fuck, I barely know how to read, let alone write.’ Sakura thought, doing her best despite her limited ability. Once she was finished, she handed the report in then watched as Naruto chattered away at the man.
“Hey Sasuke, can I crash at your place? I don’t think I have the energy for Naruto today.” Sakura spoke softly, not wanting to offend the blond. He was a kid in her eyes and she wasn’t going to be cruel.
“Hn,” Sasuke grunted and Sakura decided that was a yes. Pocketing her pay, she watched as Kakashi looked over his team and then pulled his bright orange book out.
“Well my students, you’re dismissed for the day!” Kakashi said cheerfully, vanishing in a puff of smoke. Sasuke walked for the door without another word and Sakura followed along behind him. Naruto was still talking excitedly with Iruka and didn’t notice either of them leave.
“So, how far away do you live? I don’t remember,” Sakura didn’t know what was and wasn’t a landmine with any of her teammates and Sasuke was clearly a minefield.
“Far, we can walk.” He answered and silence settled between them. The sun was still high in the sky and Sakura estimated the time was somewhere around 4pm. They had a good chunk of the day left and she had some money she could use to buy things.
“Hey Sasuke, how many days worth of food is our mission pay?” Sakura asked and Sasuke just shrugged.
“I don’t know but 10,000 ryo is a lot for a D rank. You could buy about twelve good kunai with that much or an okay sword.” Sasuke informed the girl as they walked through the streets of Konoha. He could see she was exhausted and since she wasn’t being utterly unbearable for once, he didn’t try to ditch her. He wasn’t really sure if he’d let her stay more then a day but so long as she didn’t annoy him or get in the way, he didn’t really mind. He had the space and she wasn’t making noise or shrieking at him, which was nice.
“Thanks for the info, that’s really helpful I think.” Sakura replied and immediately began running the numbers.
‘Okay a good knife in my world ran from $100 to $200 dollars but kunai are semi-disposable so I’m going to low ball and say that a kunai is around $100. That means that I’ve got around $1,200 for chasing a cat. Fuck that’s a lot of money, it’s almost rent for a month. One or two more missions and I can get my own place. I can see why orphans and civilians attempt to become ninja now, it really pays.’ Sakura knew there had to be a reason that so many people signed up for a life of constant violence and danger. Glory and propaganda could only go so far in a profession where most didn’t live long enough to see their thirties.
The two walked through the city of Konohagakure and eventually came upon the walls of the Uchiha compound. A strange chill filled the air here and Sakura shivered as they walked in. Sasuke gave her a look and she frowned but didn’t say anything, following along after him. ‘He’ll ask me if he’s curious, I don’t want to start a fight.’ She thought, trailing behind him as they reached a mansion. He pushed the front door open and began walking in before pausing.
“Do not go into this room.” Sasuke pointed at a room directly to the right of the entrance.
“Alright, I won’t.” Sakura promised and Sasuke gave her a nod before leading her to a sitting room in the back of the house. It overlooked a somewhat overgrown yard that extended out into the Uchiha’s private training ground. “Hey Sasuke, thanks, really I mean it.”
“Even if you’re useless, you are still my teammate.” Sasuke didn’t look at her as he spoke and while he sounded annoyed she knew he was just childishly trying to remain distant and cold. He was determined to chase his goal and avoid anything that might distract him, but he was still a good kid underneath his mountains of trauma.
“Won’t argue with that, it’s true. Sorry you’ve got such a trash teammate, I’ll do my best to stay out of your way.” Sakura knew she could get stronger, canon Sakura did after all but right now she was pathetic. There was no shame in it, after all she didn’t have a teacher and could barely read so besides going off what she already knew, their wasn’t much she could do.
“Good,” Sasuke nodded and then walked outside.
Sakura watched as the boy began a second round of training. He had a furious look on his face and her stomach rumbled angrily. She could withstand hunger for a bit if she had to but there was no harm in asking Sasuke if he had anything she could cook.
“Mind if I cook something?” Sakura called out and Sasuke glanced at her before shrugging. ‘Well that’s permission.’ She thought, looking around the ground floor and making sure to avoid the side room. She found the kitchen after only a few minutes of searching and discovered that the fridge was mostly empty, however there was plenty of rice in the cupboards which was still edible, a rice cooker and some dashi powder. ‘Okay so it’s seasoned rice!’ Sakura thought to herself, making the best of what she had. She wasn’t about to interrupt Sasuke after telling him she wouldn’t get in his way.
Setting up the rice cooker, Sakura put enough rice and water in for a meal, added some dashi powder, stirred it a bit then let it run. The resulting rice was heavily seasoned, perfectly cooked and filling enough. ‘So much better than hospital food.’ Sakura thought, happily eating the rice. Her enthusiasm was soon noted by Sasuke who came over to stare at her.
“What did you make?” He asked, surprised she’d managed to cook anything given his limited supplies. He’d assumed she’d eat a tomato like a normal person but somehow Sakura had cooked a full meal and was enjoying herself.
“Flavored rice, here try.” She offered him a chopstick of rice and he crinkled his nose in annoyance at the used utensils but took a bite anyways. “Good right?”
“Hn,” he grunted but agreed within the safety of his own mind. Not that he was going to tell Sakura that. “Can you make more?”
“Sure but we’ll need proper proteins and vegetables if you want to make a meal of it.” Sakura informed him and Sasuke blinked and tilted his head. “You need it to build muscle and gain strength, protein for muscle, vegetables for vitamins and such. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s the case. My memory is a bit patchy, but I remember boring stuff like that.”
“Okay, we can go shopping when you’re done eating.” Sasuke observed the girl carefully, wondering if she was right about certain foods helping you get stronger. He knew his mom used to lecture him about a balanced diet but he was fairly certain she just wanted him to eat something other than tomatoes.
“Alright and maybe I can go shopping for some second hand weapons, I barely have any.” Sakura informed him and Sasuke let out a sigh and walked upstairs. If there was one thing he had, it was weapons and he did not want to waste time with her wandering around while she tried to not get ripped off by blacksmiths.
He quickly gathered up a few pouches of kunai and shuriken that were worn or blunt from training and carried them downstairs. He dropped them in front of her and she blinked and looked down at the weapons before turning her attention to him with visible confusion on her face.
“Weapons, don’t waste my time.” Sasuke stated and she nodded dumbly, genuinely surprised by his behavior.
‘Okay, so he’s capable of being nice if you’re not loud and clingy. That’s good to know.’ Sakura thought, doing her best not to look surprised and utterly failing. “Thanks, I’ll cook something nice. Anything in particular you want?”
“Something with tomatoes.” Sasuke stated simply and then lead her outside.
“I can do that.” Sakura replied, still utterly baffled but in a pleasant way. ‘He’s just a traumatized twelve year old. Stop thinking of them as characters, he’s got more range of emotion than the small amount of screen time you barely fucking remember.’ She berated herself as they walked through the village to the closest market. Sasuke paid and they headed back to his house, without saying a thing. The Uchiha seemed perfectly happy with the silence and Sakura didn’t have any desire to annoy him so she kept her mouth shut.
‘This has got to be the weirdest day of either of my lives.’ Sakura thought, hollowing out some tomatoes to make pico de gallo while cooking some ground beef and then blanching some spinach before shredding it fine and adding it to the cooked beef which she then seasoned and stuffed into the tomatoes. Sprinkling some cheese on top, she put the food in the oven under the broiler to melt the cheese and soften up the tomatoes before putting the pico de gallo on top.
“Here, something healthy with tomatoes.” Sakura put the food down in front of Sasuke who’d gone outside to train some more while she cooked. Both of them were covered in sweat and dirt from their day and Sakura needed a change of clothes, though she’d cross that bridge when she got there, preferably after eating.
Sasuke looked at the food, onyx eyes focused on the tomato in front of him and slowly pulled a piece free with his chopsticks. It really was meant to be eaten with a fork and knife or a sharp edged spoon but Sasuke didn’t have such utensils and they were forced to make do. The meal passed in silence but Sasuke ate quickly before grabbing another for himself. He devoured the food before getting a third and once he was done with that Sasuke looked at Sakura, eyes narrowed at her while she finished her second helping.
“You’re different.” Sasuke stated and Sakura nodded.
“Yeah I’ve been told. I’m sorry?” Sakura offered and Sasuke just continued to look at her silently. She noticed his eyes were utterly devoid of differentiation between his pupils and irises, they were just solid pools of uniform onyx, that were thoroughly focused on her.
“You can stay,” Sasuke declared as if that settled things and Sakura supposed it did.
“Oh, thanks. I’ll try not to stay too long, I’d hate to impose.” Sakura stammered and Sasuke slowly got up, walking towards the stairs. “Ah, wait, I need to shower and do you have spare clothes? I could go out and buy some but I might get lost.”
“You can borrow some, the shower is upstairs. You can use it when I’m done.” Sasuke stated tersely and then disappeared without another world.
‘Score one for cooking skills!’ Sakura cheered internally and flopped down onto the floor, looking up at the ceiling. ‘He’s not what I expected, yet he is entirely what I expected.’ She thought, wondering if Sasuke would wake up tomorrow and freak out at her. ‘Wait, didn’t a whole bunch of people die here? Doesn’t he have a ton of trauma around this place? And they’re letting him live here?’ Sakura looked at the room she was banned from and shuddered. ‘That’s just wrong.’ She thought and silently decided not to do anything until Sasuke got up. She couldn’t risk startling him and triggering a ptsd episode.
The morning after, Sakura woke to the sound of footsteps as Sasuke came downstairs. She’d ended up showering after him and borrowing a black shirt and a pair of shorts that fit her before crashing on a sofa.
“Want me to cook breakfast?” Sakura asked and Sasuke’s head snapped to her. “Or we could eat leftovers?”
“Hn, leftovers are fine.” Sasuke answered and they quickly ate what was left of the stuffed tomatoes from yesterday. After that, Sakura grabbed a spare holster for her left leg so she had one on each side and filled it with bandages, antiseptic and a few other things Sasuke had on hand but never used. The last Uchiha watched her get ready but said nothing, she wasn’t getting in his way and she’d even cleaned up after cooking so he couldn’t complain.
The two left the house at the same time, walking through the city as it was just starting to come to life. Glancing around, Sakura stifled a yawn and stretched before looking over at Sasuke.
“Hey, how long you think before Kakashi shows up at the training field?” Sakura asked and Sasuke thought over the jounin’s typical schedule. The man usually showed up between 10am and 11am and seeing as it was about seven currently, they had time.
“Three hours or so, why?” Sasuke asked, wondering what this new, odd Sakura was planning.
“Alright, thanks I’m going to go buy clothes. I don’t mind wearing yours but, yeah I’ve got money and I don’t want to mooch.” Sakura explained and Sasuke decided it was a fairly reasonable request. “First I’m going to go find my house though, if I’ve already got clothes then I won’t need to buy any right?”
“Hn,” Sasuke answered and nodded.
“Cool so I’ll get going then.” Sakura gave him a wave as they split up, pulling out her ninja ID which had her address and then asking the shop keepers until found it. Her house was a fairly typical home, for Konoha and she even had a key in her pouch that opened the front door. The interior was silent and Sakura’s eyes took in the ground floor which looked normal.
‘Okay no traps,’ Sakura thought walking in and closing the door but leaving it unlocked. ‘If those really were my parents and I need to flee, I’m not leaving a locked door at my back.’ Sakura reasoned, heading upstairs and finding a room with her name written across a flower. Pushing the door open quietly, she moved inside and found a very pink room. ‘I would have wanted a room like this at her age. It’s cute and she’s got so many books.’
Looking over the shelves, Sakura was impressed. The pink haired child had clearly been well read and there were books on various things that were probably quite useful. ‘I wonder why she never applied her knowledge. Was it performance anxiety or just a lack of wisdom?’ Sakura quickly found a backpack and several sets of clothes, all red cheongsam that canon Sakura paired with stretchy shorts.
‘Doesn’t she have other outfits?’ Sakura wondered, going through her things and found that yes, Sakura had other outfits. She had a few cute summer dresses, different colored sandals and several kimono. ‘Well this isn’t all that bad. Being a ninja means blending in and all. Wearing a hyper practical combat outfit will scream professional soldier and I fucking suck so that’s suicide.’ Sakura thought, looking over her clothes and wondering how she could hide her weapons.
The kimono promised the best concealment but it would also be the hardest to fight in. The dresses were different, easy to move in with their knee length skirts but it would be hard to actually get at her weapons if she hid them under said skirt. Her cheongsam did not scream ninja, but unfortunately it did nothing to hide her holster or hip pouches. ‘I’m going to need to buy new clothes. The kimono will make way too much noise for sneaking around but it’s the best I have right now.’ Sakura knew that long skirts, pants and jackets made the most noise but offered the best concealment for weapons. ‘A short skirt would work best for quiet movement, or leggings, though they make noise when you stretch and move with them and they make it hard to hide things. Decisions decisions…’
With that done, Sakura rolled up her clothes and pushed them into her backpack. She then put in several plain sets of underwear, and was annoyed when she realized Sakura didn’t wear bras but instead wore bandages, several rolls of which were available. ‘Then again, there isn’t anything to support so it’s really just performative.’ Sakura realized and shrugged, deciding that it wasn’t an issue for today. It’d be months or years before she had to worry about such things, since she was twelve. Still, she grabbed a few of the unused rolls, just in case she needed to patch someone up.
Leaving her room, she saw the same woman who’d been standing outside the hospital in the hall. There was a moment of silence but Sakura kept walking, not stopping as she reached the stairs.
“You! How dare you attack your father!” The woman or rather her body’s biological mother whispered, voice dangerous and eyes narrowed.
“I have amnesia and I’m a shinobi. He should have known better.” Sakura stated, still walking down the stairs, throwing all common etiquette to the wind. The last thing she was going to do was let herself get trapped or grabbed by an abuser. ‘No free beatings for me, so sirree,’ she thought as she reached the ground floor and swept her eyes over the room. Her father wasn’t present and she kept her focus on her mom, heading to the door.
“I’ve heard, the hospital staff yelled at us for your poor behavior!” The woman snapped and Sakura reached the door, opening it. “Don’t you dare leave! This isn’t over!”
“It is, over.” Sakura replied, closing the door behind her and deciding to see if there were any D ranks she could do before Kakashi was due to show up. She could spend the time training but she could also train after her missions and this way she wouldn’t be tired for her team’s D ranks! ‘I’m a fucking genius!’ She cackled internally, making her way through the city to the mission office. Stepping inside, she saw a different chunin then that one who’d received her team yesterday at the main desk and then spotted the mission board.
“Hey can I pick up solo missions?” She asked and walked over to one of the men responsible for genin missions.
“Yeah, what kind of mission you want?” He asked and Sakura shrugged looking over what was available.
“Something I can do in one and a half, maybe two hours?” Sakura replied and the man gave her a shrug before looking over the board.
“There is a river cleanup you might be able to manage, if you’re fast on your feet you could track down Tora who has escaped again and there is a brothel called Hanazono that needs a barmaid until 9:30am. It’s pretty quiet and they’ll probably try to teach you their trade to kill time.” The chunin listed off the available jobs and Sakura thought over the various options before shrugging.
“Fuck it, the brothel has a guaranteed end time right?” She asked and the man nodded, picking up the scroll and writing on it.
“Here, just show them this.” He said, face blank and Sakura cocked a curious eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything.
‘Does he not want me to take this mission? I know kids shouldn’t be anywhere near brothels but I’m thirty and it won’t be the first time I’ve hung out with prostitutes. Never hired one though and won’t today, I need my own place.’ Sakura thought, taking the scroll and detouring to Sasuke’s house to drop off her things before heading to the brothel which wasn’t all that far from the Uchiha district oddly. What wasn’t odd was how large the red light district was, which made sense. Konohagakure was a trade town, with its primary export being short lived, well paid mercenaries and the village often played host to a large number of traveling merchants, nobles and dignitaries. The obvious results of which was a flourishing red light district.
Finding the Brothel wasn’t hard, it was the most opulent building in the district and Sakura headed to the back entrance as ordered. Knocking on the door, it opened quickly to reveal a beautiful woman in a fine kimono. Her eyes moved over Sakura’s relaxed expression and doll like features, approval visible in them before they flicked to her headband and scroll.
“Good, come in,” her voice was inviting, warm and perfectly seductive despite being aimed at a twelve year old.
‘It’s become a force of habit or maybe she’s just not dropping the act while on the clock?’ Sakura wasn’t sure and didn’t care unless the woman tried to touch her or have someone else touch her. If that happened all bets were off and Sakura had plenty of experience teaching people exactly what ‘no’ meant.
“Alright, you’ll be here until 9:30, two hours isn’t a lot of time to work with but it’s enough for today. If you take repeated missions with us we’ll bump up your pay a bit.” The woman informed the younger girl and the offer certainly sweetened the pot.
“Why do I get the feeling not many genin take this job?” Sakura asked and the woman flashed a charming smile that could sweep a man or the right kind of woman off their feet.
“Because nobody wants to be seen working in a brothel, now come, let’s get you dressed.” The woman motioned with her hand that wasn’t holding the mission scroll. Sakura hadn’t even realized she’d taken the contract in the first place.
‘Okay, she’s totally a ninja.’ Sakura thought, glancing from the scroll to the woman. She didn’t hide her realization in time and the woman gave her a small wink.
“Come now, time’s a wasting.” The woman purred and lead her into a changing room. “You can call me Akane by the way, we’ll call you, hmm, Tsubaki while you’re here, for your hair.” With that Sakura found herself quickly pulled out of her mission clothes and expertly dressed in a kimono before she could resist. She blinked in confusion at how fast it all happened and how easily the woman had gained her compliance.
‘Okay, so she’s some kind of super social manipulator.’ Sakura thought as Akane put a bit of light make up on her face then lead her out to the front. The two hours were mostly uneventful, and no customers showed up though a few left. The woman didn’t make Sakura do much other then have her sweep the room and practice walking in okubo, a traditional tall wooden sandal often worn by geisha. ‘Well if I ever get asked to kill a womanizer, this could come in handy.’ Sakura thought as the time quickly passed her by. She’d had worse days and the pay, for only two hours of barely doing anything, was quite nice. After all, 5,000 ryo was nothing to sneeze at.