[Sakura POV]
By the time I was finally allowed to leave the hospital, I felt like my entire body was about to collapse.
I used to think my brother exaggerated whenever he complained about hospital work. Every time he returned home looking annoyed and exhausted, I always assumed he was simply being dramatic.
Well, not anymore. At least not after getting first-hand experience of what it was really like working in the hospital for real. Not part-time, which she was used to, but real work as a medic-nin. That was something else entirely.
Tsunade-sama was an amazing teacher, and I had learned more in the past few weeks than I had during years at the Academy, but she was also a complete slave driver.
Whenever there was paperwork that didn't absolutely require her attention, it somehow ended up on someone else's desk.
Usually mine.
Or Karin's.
Sometimes both. And there was a lot of it.
However, I am certain that couldn't have been just one day's work. She must have piled that up over a few days. There is no way even both Karin and I couldn't complete the entire pile in one go.
Sigh...
By the end of the day, Karin looked just as exhausted as I felt. We had spent hours studying medical procedures, assisting patients, organizing records, and helping wherever the hospital needed extra hands.
Only now did I understand why Sukuna always complained.
Unlike me, who was little more than extra assistance when needed, he had become practically essential to the hospital because of how absurdly good he was at healing people.
"Annoyingly good, actually..." I grumbled. It was really annoying how good he was, that even Aizawa-sensei had to beg him sometimes to take on tasks.
'Talented bastard...' Grumbling, I kicked the rock in front of me with annoyance.
I hated admitting it, but he was better than anyone I had seen, even Sasuke, no matter how much I didn't wish to admit it.
And as if simply thinking about him had become a trigger for those other memories to surge up, which inevitably made my face flush, my legs weak, my mind went to that kiss and sleeping in his arms again.
"Idiot...!" I shook my head hard to remove that thought.
"Huh... who?" Karin blinked.
"Ah... nothing, nothing. Just cursing my idiot brother for leaving us as slaves under Tsunade-sama." I quickly replied, almost forgetting that she was beside me.
"Oh..." Karin nodded, and even though she understood why Sukuna did it, she was tired enough to let rational thought go and curse a bit herself. Just to release pent-up irritation, nothing personal.
And now, if it was him himself teaching them, that she could have stood behind, perhaps teaching only her alone.
And Karin's face was next to flush up.
After saying goodbye to Karin, who looked one step away from collapsing face-first into the pavement, I started making my way home.
The setting sun painted the village orange as I walked through the streets.
Halfway in, though, my steps slowed. Blinking, I spotted two figures together whom I least wanted to see together.
Sukuna.
Of course, the idiot was involved.
And Kiyomi.
Sitting together on a park bench.
Eating ice cream.
For several seconds, I simply stared, as if trying to register what I was seeing. Maybe I was too tired and my mind needed more time to process the information, or perhaps I just didn't wish to admit that seeing them together was...
Well, it was irritating and annoying, but mostly irritating.
It shouldn't have bothered me.
They were teammates. It's only natural they spend time together. Of course they spent time together.
There was nothing strange about that.
Nothing at all.
"Oi... stop eating mine, you have yours, don't you?"
"Ah, come on, I just took two bites."
"Fuck that, it's half gone. Give me yours."
My eyes narrowed.
The two of them sat beneath the warm evening light, and when did they become this familiar? Every now and then Kiyomi would say something, and to my growing annoyance, Sukuna would actually smirk.
Smirk.
Not his usual bored expression.
Not his usual annoyed expression either.
A genuine smirk.
Meanwhile, I had spent the entire day working myself to death.
The unfairness of it made my eye twitch.
'That bastard.'
Then my attention shifted toward Kiyomi.
More specifically, how close she was sitting.
Not touching him, but isn't that too close? Do teammates sit that close?
Don't know why, but I immediately disliked it.
A very uncomfortable feeling settled in my chest.
I couldn't even remember the last time I had sat next to Sukuna like that.
Sharing snacks.
Talking about nothing.
Just spending time together.
We hardly had time after becoming shinobi.
The realization only made the irritation worse.
Before I knew it, my feet were already moving.
Marching straight toward them.
Neither of them seemed particularly surprised.
In fact, the moment Sukuna looked up and saw me approaching, he looked like he knew I was there beforehand.
He always does. Sneaking up on him unannounced is practically impossible. Believe me, I have tried. A lot.
For some reason, he almost looked like he had seen this exact situation before by the way he released his breath after our eyes met.
Good.
I stopped directly in front of them and, for the time being, completely ignored Kiyomi.
"Must be nice," I said.
"Eating ice cream here, having nothing to do." I glared at him.
"Not quite, actually," he replied, to my surprise.
"I wished to buy chocolate, but this girl here forced me to buy vanilla. In exchange, she promised she would give chocolate a try. I just wished for her to see why it was naturally a superior flavor, but now I'm regretting it. Perhaps making her see reason wasn't worth eating this vanilla butter scoop." He replied with a grumbling tone, while still eyeing her ice cream from the corner of his eyes.
"I did no such thing. You exchanged yours yourself." Kiyomi shot back.
I felt the anger building inside me deeper almost instantly.
"While Karin and I are being worked to death under Tsunade-sama, you're sitting here eating ice cream."
"...I finished my work." He shrugged.
"That's not the point."
"It sounds like the point." Kiyomi said with a raised brow.
"I'm not talking with you." I growled, then looked back at him.
Before he could continue, I snatched the ice cream directly out of his hand.
"Hey!"
I glared back.
Then, without a second thought, I sat down directly on his lap.
The silence that followed was incredible.
Why did I do something like that, right in the middle of a park?
I had no idea. Impulse, mostly. When the implications settled inside my head, my own face flushed up to the point I had to hide it with the ice cream quickly.
I took a bite of the ice cream.
Then another.
And another.
I don't wish to agree with the idiot right now, but chocolate indeed was better than vanilla.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could feel Kiyomi staring.
Good.
I turned slightly and gave her a look.
For some reason, Kiyomi's eye twitched slightly.
She stared at me.
I stared back.
And strangely enough, she almost looked like she had experienced this exact situation before.
Why?
Had something like this happened before?
A weird sense of familiarity passed between us.
Neither of us knew why.
Meanwhile, Sukuna sat completely frozen beneath me.
"Hmm... Sakura."
"What?"
"...Why are you sitting on me?"
I took another bite of his ice cream, face flushed from ears to neck.
Indeed, why am I sitting on his lap, in an open park no less? What was I thinking?
"Because my legs hurt."
"And the bench is occupied."
"There is literally space right next to me." He offered.
I pretended not to hear him.
Kiyomi suddenly looked away, grumbling something along the lines of "How troublesome." She got up.
"Going already?"
"Yeah... seems like your sister wants her big brother back. Pamper her on your own. I'm not staying to watch the show." She scoffed and started walking.
My hands clenched tighter around the cone in my hands.
'B*tch...'
I just huffed internally and leaned closer to him when he tried to get up.
Sighing, Sukuna could only nod. "Bye then."
"And you..." He finally turned toward me.
"Yeah..." I asked, wondering what excuse I'd give now that she was gone.
"Tell me honestly... you didn't like vanilla either, did you?"
'Wait... that's what he asks out of all things?'
Sigh...
"Yeah.... Vanilla sucks."
-x-
The past month had not been easy for the Hyuga Clan.
Ever since the preliminary rounds of the Chunin Exams, when both Neji and Kiyomi Uchiha had been hospitalized following their brutal match, the condition of Neji Hyuga had remained one of the greatest concerns within the clan.
Today was no different.
Hiashi Hyuga arrived at the hospital alongside both Hinata Hyuga and Hanabi Hyuga after receiving an unexpected message from the hospital earlier that morning.
As they walked through the hallways, Hiashi's expression remained stern, though beneath that calm exterior was frustration that had been building for weeks.
He still remembered the report.
A gun.
Guns were not entirely unknown within the world. Hiashi himself knew of their existence, unlike most shinobi who rarely encountered such weapons. However, they were viewed as tools used by ordinary people rather than shinobi. They lacked the versatility of chakra and ninja arts, which was why they had never gained much popularity among the hidden villages.
And not for nothing either. Guns in this world were not as deadly as they would be on Earth, largely because most shinobi could react to fast-moving objects coming their way. Even if they couldn't, most could at least predict the trajectory of the incoming projectile before it had even been fired and dodge in time.
Secondly, guns in the current era of the Elemental Nations were not as developed. They were not as convenient, accurate, or fast as those on modern Earth.
Overall, against shinobi, guns were more or less useless.
At least until the one firing them was a civilian. They became exceedingly dangerous when the one using them was another shinobi.
However, for a man like Hiashi, whose clan valued tradition, discipline, and centuries of established combat arts, the idea of a shinobi relying on such a weapon left a bitter taste in his mouth.
The fact that Kiyomi Uchiha had nearly killed Neji using one only made it worse.
More than once, he had considered marching straight to the Hokage's office and demanding answers.
He had even considered confronting what remained of the Uchiha Clan directly.
Unfortunately, he couldn't.
Because the facts were not entirely on Neji's side either.
Neji had struck the girl first.
His Gentle Fist had caused severe internal injuries.
While not as lethal as having a projectile pass through one's skull, it was still a devastating attack.
The match itself had simply spiraled out of control. So, he waited, for almost a month, waiting for Neji's recovery, at least hoping he would recover.
And today, however, the hospital had called him personally.
That alone filled him with dread.
When they finally arrived, a senior medic greeted them outside Neji's room.
The woman's expression told him everything before she even spoke.
"I'm sorry, Hiashi-sama."
The words felt heavy.
The medic lowered her head.
"We did everything we could."
Silence followed.
"Tsunade-sama personally treated him," she continued. "Haruno-san also assisted multiple times throughout the recovery process. The fact that Neji survived this long was already beyond what we initially believed possible."
Hinata's eyes widened.
Hanabi froze.
For a moment, Hiashi heard nothing else.
The woman's explanation continued.
Something about complications.
Something about brain trauma.
Something about internal deterioration.
None of it mattered.
Only one thing remained.
Neji was dead.
His brother's son.
The child his brother had left behind.
Gone.
A painful weight settled in his chest.
Then came anger. The helpless kind.
The kind that came when there was no enemy to strike and no action left to take.
Beside him, Hinata lowered her head as tears began falling freely down her cheeks.
Hanabi was no better.
Though younger, she had still grown up alongside Neji.
Now he was gone.
The three of them eventually entered the room to spend a final moment with him before the body was transferred back to the Hyuga Clan compound.
Hours later, after the necessary arrangements had begun, a nurse arrived carrying documents that needed signatures before the transfer could proceed.
She knocked lightly before opening the door.
Then stopped.
The papers nearly slipped from her hands.
Her eyes widened in complete disbelief.
"What the..."
xXx
A/N : Ah... another chapter another addtional to the story. Tell me how you like it, did you find Jealous Sakura cute, and what about Neji. Any idea what's going on with that emo ?
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