heritage

Chapter Twenty-Four: Acknowledgement

"A deep breath in... and a slow exhale out."

           They don't end up going to the apartment. Not at first, anyway. It is clear that they are not actually headed home when Kakashi gently grasps her shoulders and steers her in the other direction. She gives a startled laugh when he does so, not expecting the turn.

Sakura doesn't mind. She's missed seeing everyone, and, well, they deserve to know that she's still alive. She takes ahold of Kakashi's hand when he returns to her side, walking at pace with her. Well, almost at pace. His hand tugs a bit at hers as he walks just half a step ahead, still leading the way.

The path he takes her through is familiar enough that she is able to guess their destination with little issue. Yakiniku-Q has been a favorite of many of the precious people in her life. Not to mention she has the nagging feeling that she knows one of the Akimichi who run the place. She's almost absolutely sure of it. But the memory escapes her grasp no matter how hard she tries to hold it down.

"It's a good thing you were returned today." Kakashi interrupts her thoughts with the declaration. She doesn't consider it any less true, but it is odd that he points it out like that. She glances at him, suspicion creeping over her shoulders at the almost blasé look on his face.

"How so?" Sakura asks, the nonchalant tone to her voice more genuine than not. Her worries, however, sing with vindication when her sensei replies.

"We get to celebrate instead of making battle plans!"

"That's..." Sakura begins, trailing off as she thinks about what her reply should be. The urge to not know fights with her thirst for knowledge for a moment. Then she remembers that even the Hokage himself had remarked on the chaos and decides she can do without the information. "...nice."

"Isn't it?" Kakashi agrees in a light tone, giving her a cheery, closed-eye smile. "Now our savings won't be used to pay off any more property damage."

Sakura almost stops short, barely making her next step without tripping over her complete and utter surprise. She takes in a breath. And then another.

"I am going to pretend I didn't hear that." She lifts her chin loftily. In this case, if she didn't know, it wasn't her problem. The rest of the village could deal with her team for a change.

"That's probably for the best." Kakashi hums, his chakra signature singing with an impression of innocence so strong Sakura knows not to believe it. And she also knows not to call him out on it. If she wants to know any sort of peace for a while, anyway.

A brief moment of silence follows. They continue walking, the scent of food growing stronger the closer they get to the restaurant. Sakura's stomach growls at the thought of eating. Despite the ravenous creature in her belly, however, her mind is too busy putting two and two together.

"...Who's paying for the Yakiniku-Q then?" She questions as the aforementioned restaurant comes into view.

"It's on the house," Kakashi answers a bit too quickly. As if he had already considered that she would ask the question long before she actually did. Her eyes narrow slightly.

"As a favour?" Sakura needles, not even bothering to hide how suspicious she is. The owner of Yakiniku-Q had always given her a discount when she ate alone during her Academy days. She doesn't really remember why, but that is often how she was able to afford to eat three meals a day. However, no such favour had ever been bestowed upon Team Seven as a whole. So a free meal when she wasn't even there? Impossible.

"No, no. We won't owe them anything." Kakashi assures her. He turns to look at her, making the mistake of meeting her eyes. Sakura maintains eye contact, leaning forward a bit and widening her eyes as if she already knows the truth. She is fairly certain she actually does.