What to do

1.6K 112 3
                                    

On her way back, Sakura, taking inspiration on Sasuke (or more particularly his house, but semantics) made a detour to the small apothecary shop.

Not bothering to henge, she entered and immediately made a beeline for the fuijutsu supplies.
The distinctive stench hadn't waned since her last visit, but Sakura didn't care as much this time around, too focused on finding what she'd come for.
Internally fist pumping, she snagged a roll of pre-made silencing tags. She also picked a few explosive ones as well as a kit for fuinjutsu beginners to avert to much suspicion as on what she'd decided to buy. Satisfied, she went to pay for her wares and nearly choked at the sum.
After the invasion, she hadn't had the time (or the opportunity) to take on any missions and had had to take the money necessary for her shopping directly from the familial vault.
While she was well aware of the increased prices for civilan products, she'd have thought that ninja were used to such crisis and that the inflation wouldn't be too great.
She'd guessed wrong.
The price had all but tripled and Sakura was quickly becoming broke. At this rate, she'd have to put her budget on a tight(er) leash, and skip unnecessary meals (read: lunch) for an undetermined amount of time.

Still, she was reluctant to put back anything. The silencing seals were a no-go, and discarding the others while only keeping said tags would be like a admission of guilt.
Somewhat resigned,Sakura pulled out the money from her purse and paid.

Once back in her home, Sakura pulsed her chakra to sense if any of her tails had invited themselves in before beginning to set the tags on the walls.
Sensing was weird. It didn't cost any chakra, which Sakura was immensely grateful for, and enabled her to spot any living being in her (admitedly quite small) range.
If she had to describe it, she'd say it was like sprending jelly on a toast, exept the jelly was sentient and could detect every crumb beneath it. She could manipulate her chakra (aka, the jelly) to do whatever she wanted: spread it in a circle around herself or a single direction... she could even give it a "scent" to find, and the chakra would scout everything within it's range before latching on the particular signature and Sakura would be able to know the targets location, chakra nature and living condition (dead or alive).
Then, at her command (at this point Sakura didn't know whether it was supposed to be jelly or a hound) it would curl back into her tenketsu and that was it.
Not an ounce of chakra lost.
It was ridiculously weird.

She was beginning to glue the last seal on the wall when the doorbell rang.
Sakura realized with a start that she hadn't given Ino any specific time to drop by. Like the overachiever and impatient person she was, the Yamanaka heiress had probably gone directly to her teammates and dragged them here.

Sakura finished putting the last tag, double checking that everything was carefully in place, before wiping her hands on her thighs and going to answer the door.

She welcomed them inside, guiding them to the living room.
"Tea?" the pink haired girl offered. It might have been genuine host-like behaviour or just subcounsciously trying to postpone the moment she'd have to explain herself to them, she didn't herself know for sure.

Already, Shikamaru was staring at her, his black eyes narrowed and unblinking.
He hadn't said a single word since his arrvial, not even his usual "troublesome" and the atmosphere was growing tenser by the second.

"Sakura...Just get to it already!" Ino, like it was a surprise, was the one to break the awkwardness.
Hesitating one last time, Sakura sighed and dropped to the floor, gesturing ather guests to make themselves comfortable.
Ino and Shikamaru followed in suit, sitting in seiza in front of her, while Choji, looking rather self-concsious, decided to settle on a chair.

"...So? Why did you call us here Sakura-chan?" The Akimichi questionned.
Sakura had never been really close with either of the two boys, even during the peak of her friendship with Ino. To have expressly asked for them, via her ex-best friend no less, was unexpected.

"I..." how could she say it? "IhavereasontobelievethattheUchihamassacrewasorderedbysomeonewithinthevillage." She blurted out.
"Um...what?"

"I have reason to believe the Uchiha massacre was ordered by someone within the village?" Sakura repeated, unwittingly phrasing it like a question.

For a long moment, there were no reactions whatsoever and Sakura grew afraid that they would just burst out laughing and scoff before walking away.

Unsurprisingly, the first one to recover was Shikamaru. He gazed thoughtfully around the room, no doubt noticing the seals, before settling back on Sakura.

"Why do you think so?"

For the second time in as many days, Sakura launched into the story, this time tweeking some details. She had learnt her lesson with Sasuke and phrased her theories in a more... relaxed manner so that she wasn't pointing any obvious fingers at any respected authority figures. She also decided to share her worries about the ANBU, something she hadn't done with the Uchiha.

"So you're saying that the reason Sasuke-kun is in detainment right now is your fault?" Ino asked shrilly once she had finished recounting the different events and the thought process that had led to the grim conclusion.
She didn't look angry, but appearances were deceptive and Sakura tensed. Was Ino going to hold it against her? She'd have thought that her old friend, at least, would understand.

"Ino..." Choji said warningly, his tone unusually stern "drop your mindgames."

"ok, ok, chill out!" the blond held her hands up placatingly. "But seriously," she continued, turning towards Sakura "he's really in detainment?"

"Kagecide is a grave offense, Ino." Choji scolded.

"I know, but its Sasuke-kun. I'd have thought he was smarter than that."

"Smarter as in not attempting to kill Tsunade-sama, or smarter as in not getting caught?"

"What do you think? Not getting caught, of course!"

"Ino..."

A bit lost at the familiarity with which the two teammates interracted when they had all but ignored each other before graduation, Sakura turned to face Shikamaru.
He was the smartest, a genius in his own right; and even if Sakura was more than confident in her intelligence, she also knew the Nara far exeeded her in terms of strategical thinking and planning.

"I know this whole" she waved her hands emphatically, her nerves getting the better of her "theory, has a lot of holes and all, but..." Sakura exhaled heavily, what was she doing?

"I didn't want to do this alone. I'm sorry for dragging you in this mess." She whispered.

Black eyes stared at her for a long time, before Shikamaru sighed, dropping his head in his hands.
"This is so troublesome!" he groaned.
The two others instantly stopped arguing, and, for the first time since their arrival there was silent in the house.
Three pairs of eyes were riveted on the despairing boy. They stayed frozen for some time, until, as if noticing an invisible signal, Ino giggled and Choji relaxed into the chair.

"We're gonna help you." Shikamaru growled through his fingers, "But if this goes to shit it's all your fault." he glared at Sakura. "Also, you asked for my help, so you're going to listen, and if you don't like it, then we're out."

Sakura nodded emphatically. She'd known it would probably be one of the conditions, a concequence for asking the prodigious strategist for help. But she was tired of dealing with this alone. Obeying the orders of a certified genius didn't seem too bad in the face of everything that could possibly happen.

"So, what do we do?"

MaybeWhere stories live. Discover now