It took Raiden, Naruto and the other leaf village shinobi four days to set up the village party. It was a lot of work but once it was all said and done, the party was immaculate. It was one of those last warm nights before fall came. Lights were hung everywhere, around the trees and above everyone's heads, tables that were beautifully decorated littered the training grounds. There was a large stage and projection screen setup. Music from the DJ was already playing as Raiden looked around doing the final touches before anyone else arrived. Neji was able to get five food carts to participate, the air smelt delicious.
"You owe me ten bucks." Raiden jumped, spinning around seeing Sakura and Carver standing behind him. "I told you he had something planned."
"How the hell did you know?" Carver shook his head.
"I know everything." Sakura responded as she turned back to Raiden. "I hear you made quite a number of new friends."
"Well...they were all just helping me with-"
"Really?" Sakura cut in, "That's what you're going with?"
"I'm sorry Sakura, but I tried to talk to you about it, but you just shut me down! You wouldn't even talk it through with me."
"Raiden." Sakura took a few extra steps closer to him. "I am the fucking Commander, I don't have to 'talk it through' with anyone."
"You used to with us, we use to be more than just your lap dogs-"
"Oh, shut the fuck up." Sakura said, "You know I don't look at you and Carver as soldiers. You two are the only ones I can count on, at least that is what I thought."
"Hey." Carver warned.
"You know what I mean." Sakura reinsured him, "Raiden, you went behind my back and for what?"
"To help bring-"
"Yeah no I heard all that already from Tsunade." Sakura sighed, looking around. "Have you thought this through?"
"I am pretty sure I didn't miss anything..."
"Raiden, your smarter than this." Sakura said, "Have you planned out who will be replacing the Waterfall soldiers when they come to this thing you put on for them?"
"Wait what?" Raiden looked up, causing Sakura to scoff.
"There are reasons why I do what I do." Sakura explained, "We know the Reapers want something out of this village, we know they already tried to send a second wave of creatures. We don't know how fast they can move right now. Having a village wide party getting everyone who can defend themselves wasted is not a smart move right now. If you would have just listened to me, I could have helped you plan this for a different time. Not when there is a possible threat staring at the gates of this village."
"I didn't think about any of that..."
"You came running into my meeting with the other commanders as if this-" Sakura looked around at the party set up, "-was more important than the village I helped build up from the ground."
"Sakura...I am so sorry I...I don't know what came over me and I-"
"I know." Sakura said, making Raiden feel uneasy about how soft she was being right now. "I know how easy it is to get wrapped up inside the Leaf Village. You forget this is where I am from, I know how this place works. From the outside looking in it's just like our village, the grass always looks greener on the other side."
"What are you saying?" Raiden asked.
"You're a shiny new toy." Carver said. "But when you're not the shiny new toy guess what you're going to be."
"What?"
"A shinobi from another village." Carver answered. "Man, I get it. I am tired Sakura is tired too, all we do every day is fight, kill and then repeat. I get you want a change but this place is not the answer. Sakura was one of their own and they were so willing to banish her, you're an outsider, when you stop being entertaining and your true scars come out, they won't be able to handle what they see. We don't want to see you get hurt."
"I am sorry, I-"
"Raiden-" Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder. "-no matter what your feeling, you can always come to me and talk about it. Not when I am in the middle of a meeting where Onoki is trying to pull villages together to attack when I am not inside the village to defend it, but any other time Carver and I are here."
"Yeah man, and I am sorry for losing my cool with you before we left." Carver sighed he didn't like talking about feelings and opening up it made him nauseous, "You know I hate this stuff...it just felt to us like you found new people to replace us with and it hurt so..."
"You two are the most irreplaceable people on this earth." Raiden laughed hugging Carver and Sakura.
"Enjoy your party Raiden." Sakura smiled,
"Wait what? You're not going to-"
"Carver and I will replace the two teams on watch tonight."
"But..."
"You worked hard for this-" Carver patted Raiden's shoulder as Sakura and Carver moved to leave. "-enjoy it and save us some food!"
"Wait-!" Raiden turned but they had vanished.
"Wait for what?" Raiden saw Naruto behind him. "Ah man! Did we forget something!?"
"No." Raiden smiled, his heart feeling lighter. "Everything is fine."
"Did we ever stop to think what we would do if no one showed?" Naruto wondered.
"Ugh....we will have a lot of food to eat." Raiden joked, causing Naruto to laugh.
"This is beautiful." Shizune said with a smile. Tsunade and Shizune were the first to show.
"Welcome!" Raiden greeted, "Enjoy the party!"
"Oh, I will." Tsunade said, eyeing the beer tent.
"Wow!" TenTen looked at the finish product. "Are we like...secretly really good at planning stuff?" TenTen asked Hinata who giggled.
"Welcome!" Raiden waved, seeing more people flocking towards the training grounds where the party was set up.
"People showed." Carver was slightly shocked, he turned to Sakura who smirked. They stood in a nearby tree watching Raiden. Raiden rubbed the back of his head, not sure what to do now.
"Wow!" Ino breathed looking at all the pretty lights as she entered the party.
"Ino!" Ino looked over to see her peers all waving sitting at a picnic table, Ino smiled and waved back. Ino wore a tight purple dress with skinny straps that rested on her shoulders, with black high heels, Ino looked at Hinata who wore a light blue dress which sparkled with the lights as she moved. Her hair was curled and styled.
TenTen was wearing a light green dress that appeared similar to Hinata', Ino felt overdressed. Shikamaru walked into the area, wearing dark jeans and a plain white shirt. Choji was wearing a tux shirt and jeans. Ino rolled her eyes at the lame shirt. Ino's heart fluttered seeing Sasuke enter he wore black pants, a white under shirt and a dark blue jacket with his sleeves pushed up towards his elbows. He took her breath away without even trying!
Hinata was searching for Naruto, she scanned the crowd until finally her eyes landed on him. She felt her heart beat faster and her stomach fluttered. Naruto wore tan pants and a white button up shirt. His outfit was so casual and yet Hinata leaned against TenTen starstruck by his appearance. TenTen smiled at Hinata, understanding the feeling completely. TenTen could not stop watching Neji, he wore his normal white shirt and black pants, but he still looked so attractive. She blushed and quickly looked away once he looked her direction.
Shino grunted seeing the three girls goggle at the sight of Naruto, Sasuke and Neji. Shino wore what he wore every day, so did Kiba, who was playing with his dog ignoring everyone. Sai looked over at Shino, who appeared to be annoyed, but really Shino was jealous. He did not have any girls knocking his door down.
Konoha Eleven got their food and a few drinks in before the senseis made their appearance. Ausma, Kurenai, Kakashi and Iruka walked in together, dressed and ready to party. Guy and Lee walked in together, being loud and showing off that two matches in their black suits. Raiden greeted everyone, he felt how clammy his hands were; why was he so nervous?!
"Calm down." Carver spoke, shivers ran down Raiden's neck, he quickly turned.
"I thought you weren't going to come!"
"Sakura sent me to make sure you were ok." Carver shrugged.
"I am not having fun!" Raiden harshly whispered.
"Yeah...that is what Sakura thought was happening."
"I should never have put this together I-"
"Hey." Carver placed his hands-on Raiden's shoulders. "Calm down, theres nothing on the line here, it is just a party. I have seen you take on hordes of shinobi without ever blinking, I know you can host a simple party."
"Your right." Raiden breathed.
"You good?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, I am gonna grab some food and then send Sakura ok? And it is your job to make sure she eats."
"Ok." Raiden nodded; Carver gave him a thumbs up.
"Be excited people showed up, I lost another ten bucks."
"Stop betting against me!" Raiden yelled after Carver who laughed his way to the food stands.
Forty minutes later, everyone was looking around at each other feeling awkward. No one was dancing to the music, at one-point Raiden tried to start the fun by dancing by himself, it did not go over well.
"I feel like Carver lied to me." Raiden turned around, hearing Sakura's voice. Kakashi and Naruto perked up, seeing the pink hair. "He said this was going well."
"Yeah well..." Raiden sighed. "It was but I don't know what to do now." Team seven stood, seeing Sakura after days of her missing from the leaf village! Relief filled them as they soaked in her sight.
"At least people are here." Sakura commented.
"Yeah! I heard you won some more money!"
"You know Carver's horrible habit of gambling." Sakura defended herself.
"Your gambling with him!"
"No, when you're going up against Carver, it's like insurance." Sakura shrugged. "He may love to gamble but he really sucks at it."
"Do something!" Raiden harshly whispered.
"Huh?"
"Make people do stuff."
"Er...If I start throwing out orders at people to have fun, your party will commit suicide."
"Tell me what to do!"
"I am not in this." Sakura shook her head, "This is your thing that you put together."
"I know but...what did you do at the Waterfall Village when the party started to die down?"
"They never died down that was always the problem." Sakura chuckled. Naruto was slowly moving towards Sakura, not sure if he should move closer or not...but he wanted to talk to Sakura.
"Well, what is the last party you remember?" Naruto heard Raiden ask, Naruto pretended to drink his empty cup.
"Um..." Sakura thought back. "The last party I remember I woke up in a drainpipe."
"Th-That's it?!"
"You were in a wheelbarrow wearing that floral dress because you lost the bet-"
"Ah!" Raiden shook his head at unwanted memories bubbling up. "I do not want to remember that." Naruto covered his mouth trying to muffle his laugh. Sakura patted Raiden's arm,
"You'll be fine." Sakura said, as she turned her sights on the thought of food.
"Your leaving me!?"
"I am going to eat and then get back on patrol." Sakura answered as she walked away. "Try jumping on stage, that use to always work." Sakura called out as she left.
"Yeah...Yeah! You are right!" Raiden said getting pumped up. Sakura's stomach growled as she walked to the food stands with Naruto trailing behind her. Kakashi sat a plate of food down, eyeing the pinkette as she moved through the crowd gaining a lot of attention.
Kakashi just settled down beside Guy and Iruka when a loud crash turned everyone's attention. Two girls were dashing out of the way as Sakura flipped drawing her sword as she did so she block a strike against her. Kakashi quickly stood seeing a second opponent jumping into view. Sakura looked behind her as a man ran up, as Sakura continued to clash blade with the woman in front of her, she quickly lifted her left arm slamming her elbow up into the man's nose.
"Ah!" He cried, "Alright!" He said dropping the ground as his eyes watered. Sakura took that moment to kick the woman away from her, she landed onto a picnic table.
"What the hell are you two doing!?" Raiden yelled, as the two strangers popped up from the ground like daisies. Kakashi sighed, seeing Sakura lower her weapon.
"I see you haven't lost your touch." The woman laughed, reaching an arm out as Sakura helped her get to her feet.
Sasuke had his eyes locked onto Sakura, the little firecracker. He felt his heart swell with a new warm feeling he didn't understand, it wrapped around his heart and was not letting him go. He watched her; he never felt this way before. Sakura made him feel this way he knew that much. This woman standing in front of him, that Sakura intrigued him. The raven-haired man could not get those burning green eyes out of his head! This Sakura was the one he wanted...no...he needed her in his life.
"I see you have." Sakura joked.
"Ha-Ha." She faked laughed as she put her sword away as did Sakura.
"Son of a bitch." Carver groaned, seeing what all the fuss was about. "Every damn time with you too."
"Aw, are you jealous we didn't go after you?"
"Shut up Annora." Carver playfully glared. The leaf shinobi glanced at each other so very confused. Naruto walked over to Raiden and lightly poked him.
"Hey uh, who are those two?" Naruto whispered.
"I'll introduce you!" Raiden pulled Naruto over.
"No...No!...Hey...Sakura!" Naruto blushed.
"Leaf village-" Raiden addressed everyone watching, he noticed even the music stopped playing. "This is Annora and Zander." The two strangers waved, looking around at the confused faces. "They are soldiers of Sakura's."
"Pftt." Annora scoffed. "Don't make us sound like objects or anything."
"Oh sorry!" Raiden laughed. "These two are one of the Waterfall's special ops-" Sakura quickly moved to Raiden, who was talking to much.
"Where's Ian?" Sakura cut Raiden off, looking at Annora.
"Hm, we don't know he wandered off on his own again." Annora answered, Kakashi knew these people to be the waterfall villages version of a black ops team.
"What are two doing way out here?" Sakura asked, Kakashi and Iruka glanced at each other.
"We were invited to come." Zander gasped dramatically, "When we heard you were having a party Sakura we just had to come!'
"Mm, nope." Sakura shook her head. "This isn't mine."
"What, what?" Zander said turning to Raiden.
"This is his thing." Sakura explained.
"Aw!" Annora whined,
"Well this has been fun-" Sakura said walking away.
"Hey!" Annora yelled quickly going after Sakura as the music started again.
"Well..." Guy said shoveling food in his mouth. "That was interesting." Kakashi watched Sakura order food, her soldiers attack her whenever they believe they get a free chance at her title and now even her friends attack when they believe she is vulnerable. What kind of life is Sakura living and how could he get her out of it?
Kakashi pulled his eyes off Sakura for a moment, with his arms crossed over his chest Kakashi realized he still deeply cared for her.
Sakura's phone sang in her pocket, she answered it and walked away from the group, Kakashi watched her leave the training grounds as she spoke into her phone.
"Annora!" Raiden called with the wave of his hand.
"What's up?" She asked once they were in talking distance.
"Will you help me?"
"Help you?" Annora chuckled, "Raiden, I think you need a lot more help than I am qualified to-"
"I meant with the party!" Raiden snapped,
"What?"
"No one is having fun." Raiden said, Annora looked at the people seeing Raiden was right.
"Now that you mention it everyone does look a little depressed."
"Will you help?" Raiden had puppy dog eyes making Annora sighed.
"Fine." She said causing Raiden to cheer, Annora looked at the leaf shinobi as an evil smile spread across her face.
"What's that look for?" Raiden asked.
"No reason." Annora spun walking towards the stage.
"But that is your murder face. You can't murder these people Annora!" Raiden yelled following her.
"I am not going to kill anyone, shut up!"
Raiden watched on the sidelines as Annora talked to the DJ and handed him a disk. It seems Annora came prepared for this situation. Music began to play as Annora stood in the middle of the stage and sang, no one paid attention to Annora until the chorus of the song hit, causing the screen behind Annora to flicker to life.
((Song -- Carrie Underwood renegade runaway))
Familiar yet distant emerald eyes caught everyone attention. Pictures of Sakura filled the screen, Naruto sat up to get a better look, devouring the sight of snapshots from Sakura's life from the last five missing years. Soft pink hair fell just past her shoulders in a screen shot of Sakura standing in front of a large crowd, it was the day Sakura became the commander of the Waterfall's army.
Tsunade smiled seeing these pictures, having missed out on a big part of Sakura's life. Everyone watched the slide show in silence as Annora sang. Kakashi's heart picked up seeing a small video played on the screen. The camera looked around at a battlefield field, the camera moved until it was placed on its target. What was once short controlled hair had grown long and wild with curls pulled up into a ponytail. She wore a familiar uniform but what caught Kakashi's eyes was the black mask resting over half her face. Her green eyes glowed against the black material as her jaw moved showing she was talking, barking out orders to people off camera. Kakashi was frozen, he couldn't move his eye off the screen.
Sasuke hid his fascination with this new Sakura well, but even he could not deny that this small taste inside Sakura's world was overwhelming. Sasuke was having a hard time convincing himself he wasn't falling for this whirlwind of a woman. Before Annora could get to the last part of the song the music cut off and the screen went black. Naruto stood he didn't want this to end, he wanted more!
"What?" Annora laughed acting innocent seeing Sakura standing beside the DJ, the disk in her hand as she crushed it.
"You know what." Sakura glared at her.
"I was helping Raiden-"
"Entertain them with something else." Sakura warned, her eyes seem to burn against the darkness of the night.
"It's not my fault they are so fascinated with you, I simply used the tools I had at my disposal." Annora smiled, Sakura rose her hand showing the broken disk.
"Really? Tools at your disposal?"
"What are you doing here? I thought you had to be on patrol." Annora pouted as Sakura walked closer to her, revealing herself to the leaf shinobi. Naruto sucked in a breath in his lungs seeing her. Kakashi knew Sakura was not happy with Annora and her little stunt but Kakashi loved that he got a peek into Sakura's world.
"Looks like someone is in trouble." Guy's hearty laugh filled Kakashi's ear, but he didn't pull his exposed eye off Sakura who looked to be lecturing Annora. After a minute Sakura walked away from a disappointed Annora and jumped off stage, disappearing once again causing team seven to huff out annoyed.
"Well that was a good show." Carver said watching Sakura walk towards him.
"No." She said taking the plate of food Carver handed her and sat down at the nearby picnic table.
"No one can see us." Carver noticed a food truck was blocking their view of the party.
"That's the point." Sakura muttered, annoyed Annora did what she did.
"Well what she did seemed to work for a little bit." Carver said seeing the leaf shinobi settling back down.
"I don't care." Sakura said.
"You know, this party dies then all the work Raiden did would be for nothing."
"Not my problem." Sakura shrugged as she watched Zander jump on the stage as he gave being the entertainment a try.
"Hm." Carver hummed, leaning back in his seat. "Who is on patrol right now?" Carver wondered,
"Me." Sakura answered, having sent clones to stand watch as she took time to eat.
"Ah, I see." Carver nodded, turning to watch Raiden and Zander goof off on stage. Carver saw how some of the waterfall soldiers were sitting at the same tables as leaf shinobi, maybe this whole party thing was working.
"Sakura why are you in your uniform?" Annora walked over, Sakura gave an empty look as a response at the stupid question. "You sent out clones to stand watch, why don't you go change and relax a little-" Carver smiled to himself, he can't remember the last time Sakura 'relaxed' Carver was convinced she didn't have that word in her vocabulary.
"Get away from me." Sakura's voice caught Carver's attention. Sakura was glaring at Annora who was pulling Sakura's arm to get up and dance. Sakura used her leg and pushed Annora away, who huffed annoyed turning and storming away.
"She is persisted." Carver yawned leaning on his arm,
"She is annoying today." Sakura agreed picking up her phone as it began to sing again.
"Dawn?" Carver asked.
"Yeah." Sakura said standing from her seat, she turned leaving the party so she could hear her second commander over the phone. Carver sighed, getting up from the table and moved around the food stand which blocked the view of the party, he leaned against the stand watching all the people sitting around not enjoying the hard work Raiden and Naruto put into this...Carver sighed; how could he make this fun for everyone?
Annora watched Sakura walking back to the party from talking on the phone for almost ten minutes! Annora had a plate of food she was munching on, she waved pulling Sakura's attention onto her. Sakura ignored her walking a different direction away from Annora.
"Hey!" Annora ran after Sakura, "Who were you talking-" Annora tripped Sakura turned in time to see Annora's plate of nachos hitting her stomach.
"Seriously?" Sakura scowled.
"I didn't mean too-" Annora laughed, "-I am sorry!"
"Mhm." Sakura said. "Sure, you are."
"On the bright side you can change now!"
"No." Sakura said looking down at the mess of liquid cheese and chili on her clothing.
"Why?"
"I don't have another uniform here."
"You don't need another uniform, just go change into anything else!" Annora lectured. "Or do you want to smell like a human plate of nachos?" Annora grinned.
"I hate you." Sakura turned.
"I love you too!" Annora waved as Sakura left the training grounds to change.
"Where is she going?" Carver walked over,
"To change." Annora answered.
"Change!?" Raiden popped up, "Is she finally going to-"
"Nah, I just spilled food on her."
"Why did you do that?" Carver wondered.
"I tripped." Annora shrugged.
"We have known you for years, you don't 'trip'." Carver said. Annora smiled and bounced away from the two men who looked at each other. What was Annora scheming now? Carver shook his head and found his way to where Naruto was sitting laughing with a few leaf shinobi. "Hey." Carver called out; Naruto turned his head.
"Yeah?" He asked with his large blue eyes.
"You're the one who helped Raiden, right?"
"Er...yeah?" Naruto felt nervous under Carver's gaze. "Well we all kinda helped." Naruto gestured to the others sitting at the table with him.
"Then why aren't you helping him right now?" Carver asked.
"What?" Kiba looked over, "Help him with what?"
"You haven't noticed that this party is kind of sucking?"
"Hey!" TenTen stepped in, "We put a lot of work into this party!"
"Then why are you all sitting here and letting Raiden break his neck alone trying to get people to mingle. That was the whole point of this thing wasn't it? For the Waterfall and Leaf to get along?" Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but as he glanced past Carver Naruto's mouth hung open. Carver noticed Naruto and turned to see what everyone was gawking at; Sakura had returned to the training grounds. Her long hair flowed as the wind blew through her hair, she wore tight fitting black jeans and a loose white shirt. Her outfit was so simple, but it had Naruto's heart beating fast in his chest as she moved towards them.
"Sa-Sakura!?" Naruto has only seen her in her uniform with her hair up waiting for a fight.
"You changed." Carver noticed.
"Thanks to Annora." Sakura said, walking until she was standing beside Carver. "What are you lecturing them about?"
"I wasn't lecturing..." Carver muttered.
"Looked like it." Sakura said as she spotted Raiden who was still working on getting people pumped up, Sakura groaned figuring out the answer she was waiting for. "Are you still on this party thing?"
"Raiden worked hard."
"Ok?" Sakura shrugged.
"When does Raiden ever work hard?" Carver counted, bringing up a good point. Kakashi was a few tables away with his friends, he watched Sakura's face dazzle in the light of the party. He engulfed Sakura's new outfit. His eye trailed over every curve of her body as his pants began to grow tighter.
"I am over hearing about this." Sakura said, snapping her hand at Naruto. "You-" She pointed, "You-" She repeated at Kiba, "-and you-" She said to Lee, "-lets go."
"Where?" Naruto's voice was small as he rose to his feet anyway. Sakura didn't answer, she just led the three-leaf ninja towards the stage.
"Raiden!" Sakura yelled gaining his attention, she gestured to follow her which he did. Sakura led the small group, as she passed Zander who sat with two full plates of food in front of him, she grabbed the back of his shirt.
"Wha-!?" He was just about to dig in! Sakura didn't care, they reached the stage and she pointed to it and told them to hop on it.
"Huh?" Kiba leaned back with his arms crossed over his chest. "Why?"
"Because if you don't, I will make your life a living hell tomorrow during training." Sakura snipped. The five men all looked at each other and quickly climbed onto the stage, Sakura motioned to the DJ to change the music to a faster upbeat song. The five looked around feeling awkward about being up on stage and standing around. "Look like you're not on trial!" Sakura yelled out.
"Are you really ordering them to have fun?" Carver laughed. Sakura quickly snapped her eyes to him.
"You want to be up there too?"
"Nope." Carver spun and walked away.
"If you don't start moving, I will make you run suicides tomorrow until you drop!" Sakura called. Raiden and Zander quickly began moving, they have been forced to do that punishment once and never wanted to do it again! Slowly but surely, the leaf shinobi started to dance, and it began to look like this was a party. After Sakura walked away from the stage people walked over to it laughing at Naruto and the others but they soon joined in on the fun.
Sakura's table that hid her from sight was now covered in supplies from the food stand, so she had to sit at an empty table that was in the middle and in full view of everyone. Annora quickly joined Sakura,
"I can't believe that worked." Annora was shocked.
"They just needed a push." Sakura muttered.
"You look nice." Annora complimented earning a glare from Sakura. "Here." Annora sat a blue solo cup in front of Sakura and poured liquid into it.
"Where did you get that?" Sakura asked, seeing the bottle of alcohol.
"I borrowed it from the beer tent." Annora answered mixing a little lemonade into the cups. Sakura looked at the cup and then to Annora.
"Oh, come on! When do we ever get to sit around and drink?"
"I am on patrol." Sakura said, causing Annora to roll her eyes.
"I know for a fact there are other shinobi on duty right now, and I know you have the craziest tolerance to alcohol I have ever seen. This probably won't even touch you, so drink!"
"Your pushy." Sakura said,
"Damn straight I am! Drink!"
"If you keep trying to push alcohol on me people may think your trying to take advantage of me." Sakura smirked at Annora's blushed face.
"Shut-Shut up!" Annora pushed the blue cup closer to Sakura. "Drink your fucking drink!"
"Ok-" Sakura said lifting the cup to her lips. "-but don't try to crawl into my bed tonight like you did last time."
"I-It's not like I tried to do anything with you! I was just drunk and was cold."
"I hear excuses."
"You are bitter tonight." Annora glared.
"It's one of my charms." Sakura smirked looking at Annora's pouting face.
"I don't think you understand what qualifies for that."
"Mhm." Sakura hummed, looking at her phone as I buzzed again.
"This that Dawn?" Annora wondered.
"Yeah."
"How come you're not inside the Waterfall Village?" Annora wondered. "I get Carver and Raiden being here but why you?"
"Why not me?"
"Because you have a village to run?"
"I can run it while being here."
"I-I don't think that is how villages work..."
"I am running it, so yeah that is how it works." Sakura looked over at Annora. "You doing ok?"
"Huh?"
"Do you want me to pull you and Zander back to the village-"
"No." Annora sighed, sipping her drink.
"You sound so convincing." Sakura placed her phone on the table,
"We are good." Annora smiled, enjoying this moment where Sakura showed her concern, it was a rare occurrence.
"Good how?" Sakura questioned, as Annora answered Sakura glanced over her shoulder. Kakashi watched Guy dance beside their table, his face flushed showing he has had a little too much to drink.
"Sakura?"
"Yeah?"
"You ok?" Annora asked, looking past Sakura trying to see what she had been watching.
"We are not talking about me." Sakura said, finishing off her drink. Naruto and the others were still on the stage but now more people had jumped onto it as they all danced to the beat of the music.
Annora grabbed Sakura's empty cup and began making a second drink for her, as she talked about what her and Zander had been doing in the past months. Sakura quickly looked up, seeing his silver hair move past her in the corner of her eye. She watched him walk away from her, moving towards a food stand.
"I knew it!" Annora jumped.
"What?" Sakura asked casually turning back around.
"You have been checking out that guy!"
"What?" Sakura repeated.
"That guy in the sexy mask, you been glancing at him every so often-"
"Does that sound like me?" Sakura interrupted.
"Hell no, which is why I was confused at first but now I know for a fact you been watching him. So, who is he?"
"I think it's time to cut you off." Sakura said, slowly taking Annora's glass.
"Hey! Do not make me sound crazier than what I already am! I can do that all on my own, now spill it. Who is he or I can go around the village asking-"
"I dare you." Sakura threatened.
"Tell me!" Annora whined, causing Sakura to sigh.
"There is nothing to tell you." Sakura shrugged.
"But you were literally just-"
"Looking around because I have to watch all these drunk people?" Sakura filled in for her.
"That-No! You are twisting-"
"Or you had to much to drink."
"I have not!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes...no...maybe...he was kinda hot." Annora blushed.
"Who?" Sakura questioned not looking Annora in the eye.
"That man who past by with the mask."
"A guy wearing a mask over his face is hot?" Sakura asked slowly. "Do you have some special sight that I don't know about?"
"It's not about his face, well it is kind of about his face but its the mystery behind it you know?"
"No." Sakura shook her head.
"Whatever." Annora sighed, standing up. "You may not want to get laid tonight but I do, it has been forever."
"Has it now?" Sakura laughed.
"What about you?" Annora wondered. "I don't think I have ever heard you talk about your sex life."
"Maybe because it is my sex life, which doesn't concern you." Sakura rose as well.
"Fine." Annora waved. "You don't want to talk to me that is fine, for tonight. Since you don't have your eye on the silver fox I am going after him."
"Have at it." Sakura waved.
"Wish me luck!" Annora bounced away as she quickly moved towards the table Kakashi was sitting with Guy. Sakura stood in place for a moment, she felt annoyed Annora was flirting with Kakashi.
"Hey." Carver's voice snapped Sakura out of her thoughts. "You good?"
"Yeah." Sakura spun around, "You?"
"Yeah, hey are you good to watch the village for a few hours alone?"
"Why?" Sakura questioned. Carver cleared his throat, nodding to the left. Sakura raised an eyebrow seeing a shy looking girl standing off a few feet looking awkward. Sakura chuckled, "Seriously?"
"We can't all be robots Sakura, people have needs." Carver joked, "Will you be good alone because Raiden is trashed and is useless more than usual right now."
"I got it, now you might want to go to your friend before it's her bed time." Sakura smirked.
"Fuck you." Carver smiled.
"Wear a condom!" Sakura called after Carver who spun around shooting her a dirty look. Sakura chuckled, turning to leave the training grounds. She rubbed her shoulder and she glanced back at all the people who were mostly drunk, she shook her head and left the grounds. Sakura found her way to the large wall that surrounding the leaf village, she walked along it alone as she stood guard alone watching the sun yawn across the night sky.
----
"Ugh." Raiden moaned, sitting up from sleeping on a hardwood floor. His head throbbed and his stomach rocked back and forth making him nauseous. Raiden looked around seeing he was inside the apartment Sakura was using while inside the leaf village. Raiden thought for a moment, how did he get here? The last thing he could remember was being on stage dancing and taking shots with Naruto. Snoring pulled Raiden's attention beside him where a body lay, bright blond hair poked through the blanket wrapped around him. Raiden pulled the sheet back to see Naruto beside him. Zander was asleep on the couch, his arm and leg both hanging off the side as he snored away.
"Good morning." Raiden turned, seeing Sakura standing behind him.
"What...?"
"You don't remember a damn thing, do you?" Sakura sighed.
"How much trouble am I in?" Raiden tried to remember what he did to piss Sakura off, but he could not remember. He looked up, seeing Sakura had moved closer holding out a water bottle and little pill bottle for the headache.
"You're not in any trouble." Sakura answered. Raiden slowly took the two items looking up at her.
"I'm not?"
"No." Sakura laughed, "You were smashed last night."
"How did I..." Raiden trailed off.
"Me." Sakura said, "I brought you here."
"You did?"
"Mm..." Naruto moaned, moving to roll onto his side. Sakura and Raiden both watched him for a moment, watching him stir awake. "Ugh." Naruto whined feeling the hangover.
"If you're going to vomit, do it in the bowl or go to the bathroom." Sakura called, moving to push one of the dark blue bowls she had placed beside all three men closer to Naruto. Naruto sat up, holding the bowl as he looked around not recognizing his apartment. Sakura tossed a water bottle down beside Naruto as he surveyed his surroundings.
"Sakura?" Naruto asked.
"Yes?"
"What...?"
"You're in the apartment I am borrowing." Sakura told him,
"But how did we get here?"
"I brought you here." Sakura said.
"Wha-?" Naruto looked at Raiden who had no idea, Sakura sighed.
"You three-" Sakura pointed to Carver, Naruto and Zander, "-decided to try and find me while on was patrol."
"I don't remember any of that." Naruto rubbed his head.
"I figured." Sakura shrugged.
"Did we do anything stupid?" Raiden yawned rubbing his face.
"Nothing more than usual." Sakura answered, pulling her phone from her back pocket and tossed it to him. Naruto and Raiden looked at each other before turning Sakura's phone on and seeing there was a video sitting on the screen.
"Sakura!" Naruto's voice came from the phone. Naruto and Raiden turned blue as they watched the recording Sakura took of them late last night. The three men acted a fool as they followed Sakura everywhere, she went. At one-point Naruto got into a fight with a tree because it would not move out of his way.
Sakura cleared her throat, causing the two on the floor to look up. She nodded her head over to the kitchen. Naruto and Raiden slowly stood, their worlds spinning as they stumbled their way to where Sakura stood. Naruto's mouth dropped open seeing the mess that covered the kitchen. Dried food and liquid were everywhere, there was a can of ravioli that looked like someone took a hammer to it as a kunai poked itself out of the side of the can. Raiden touched the toaster, seeing a phone was resting inside with butter smeared on the front and back.
"Why did you let us do this!?" Raiden tried to recall anything from last night but failed he blushed turning to Sakura who was looking at her phone, she looked up.
"I am not a babysitter." Sakura put her phone away. "You should be happy I didn't leave you sleeping outside when you three fought me to come here."
"What the fuck?" Carver sounded, having walked into the apartment. "What the hell happened here?" Carver asked slowly walking into the kitchen.
"Ask them as they clean this up." Sakura said, turning to walk away but she stopped seeing the dark bags under Carver's eyes. She shook her head as she chuckled. Raiden flopped his arms to his side, he felt something in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out a floppy waffle. Raiden looked back at the toaster.
"What?" Carver grumped at Sakura.
"Walk of shame doesn't look on you Carver." Sakura said as she walked away.
"Where-Where the hell are you going?!" Carver brushed off the comment.
"To do my job." Sakura called as she left the apartment.
Sakura stood inside the conference room she had been borrowing. She stood in front of the large screen listening to Dawn as she spoke reading off from a few files. The door open, Carver and Raiden walked in and plopped into chairs sighing as they did so.
"What happened to them?" Dawn asked looking around Sakura.
"They are morons." Sakura answered.
"True." Dawn nodded.
"Hey-!" Carver sighed, feeling too tired to continue.
"Is that mess cleaned up?" Sakura asked the two men turning back to Dawn,
"Yes." Raiden sighed, he felt like he had hit by a speeding truck!
"Sakura." Dawn called, before she ended the call.
"Yes?"
"There is one more thing." Dawn sighed, rubbing the side of her head.
"What is it?"
"Brasle has reached out to us." Dawn said slowly.
"Brasle?" Sakura repeated. "What the hell do they want?"
"It appears there is trouble, and they have requested you. I told them you were out of the village and I would be happy to assist them, but they declined my suggestion."
"Oh!" Raiden jumped, "Can we go!?" Sakura looked back at Raiden with an annoyed look. "Please?" Raiden asked, remembering the flirtatious town.
"Did they say why it had to be me?" Sakura asked.
"No." Dawn shook her head.
"Raiden and I can go." Carver said as Sakura thought for moment. Brasle was a town Sakura and the Nine would go party in. It was their hang out spot for years until Sakura and the town's leader Amos had a falling out.
"Thank you Dawn." Sakura said ending the call.
"Hm?" Carver asked watching Sakura walk out of the room, he and Raiden got up and quickly went after Sakura.
"Hey!" Carver caught up with Sakura, "Where are you going?"
"Where do you think?" Sakura didn't look at Carver as they made their way to their borrowed apartment.
"You're going to go Brasle by yourself?"
"They requested me." Sakura answered.
"Hundreds of towns and villages request you, but you don't give a damn unless they're about to be burnt to the ground. Why is this time any different?"
"You know Amos is still the town's leader, right?" Raiden asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Sakura asked walking off the elevator.
"Um..." Carver laughed as Raiden smiled, seeing Naruto outside his apartment door with his team, getting ready to go train. "Because we stopped going there because of him." Carver ignored team seven. "That guy is fucking insane." Team seven watched Carver lecture Sakura.
"You think I can't handle him?" Sakura had a hard look on her face as she opened the apartment door.
"I know you can handle your own, but that town is a lot to deal with remember?" Carver tried to reason with her. Sakura thought back to the council in charge of the town. How flirty and body hungry they were, Sakura looked behind her. Carver was a few feet away from her pleading with her not to go alone as Raiden remained near the open door as team seven hung around Naruto's front door listening to what was happening.
"Yeah I remember." Sakura said, turning to face him as a plan brewed together in her head. "Where is Annora?" Sakura asked, seeing Zander still snoring on the couch.
"I haven't seen her, last I heard she was trying to get laid last night." Carver thought, Sakura glanced through the open front door at Kakashi who was looking at Naruto.
"I see." Sakura gave a response.
"Why?"
"Because we can't leave this village unguarded, I can reassign them to this village while we are gone."
"Wait...we are going?" Carver was taken back.
"Yes." Sakura smirked, "Team Seven-" Sakura called, shivers ran up the three men who hung outside with Raiden who was swaying with the door.
"H-Huh?!" Naruto jumped. "We cleaned up the mess I swear-"
"Pack your bags." Sakura ignored Naruto.
"What?" Sasuke asked.
"I am going to be borrowing your team for a while." Sakura smirked at carver's expression as he caught onto what she was planning.