#aganais

[konohans]

thank you for taking care of me. / Sasuke for Sakura blank period or post war

for a moment, sakura says nothing to that—

she feels like her hand had ought to falter from his words, but to her own surprise, the flow of her healing chakra goes on undisturbed as it cares over the new stump. if anything, sakura wonders if she is feeling anything at all, or had she somehow pushed her feelings so expertly behind the comforting words she would often share with naruto each time he comes on over and pours to her the frustration he feels when the process of sasuke's defence are not going as smoothly. even that, too, feels far detached in sakura's mind: it feels like she's playing a role. the girl who was left behind, now keeping up by being complacent, and supportive, and ever-patient. in this role, there isn't a place for anger. in this role, there isn't a place for sadness.

after all, didn't haruno sakura got what she wanted ? the boy she chased her whole life had now finally decided to stay ?

( or had the world mistaken her for naruto, she thinks around a laughter she wishes she could deliver half-mockingly. no, if it was anyone who had chased sasuke so fervently, hadn't it been naruto ? sakura had carried with her, at one point, a poison-laced dagger, and sasuke had wrapped a palm around her throat in the same confrontration and squeezed. later, he has her seeing a fist running straight through her ribs. sakura remembers the choking sensation, the last few bits of memory as she scrambles for any form of control in the genjutsu. how she was memorising every anatomical facts to put herself together until the genjutsu falls away, and sakura's taken by darkness. )

❛⠀of course ! ❜ she smiles now, tentative and careful and a tiny bit perky. is this the girl you remember, sasuke-kun ? or do you hate this naivety ? am i still the representation of everything you despise : the gullibility and the romanticised crusade ? but tell me, how different can i really be ? what parts of me can i really change until i meet your standard, until i'm a different person altogether ? or do you maybe just want that : that different person ? for naruto, i am the girl who always waits, who always heals. who should i be for you ? ❛⠀loss limbs aren't really new in the field, but since we're using both you and naruto's cases for the potential of repurposing hashirama cells into a functioning prosthetic, i can't say i'm not at least hopeful to see where this might lead. if this works for both you and naruto, it might give other people the chance to resume their daily routine – maybe more. ❜

from: patching up wounds, @aganais !

[konohans]

[ passing confidence ]  –  for the sender’s muse brush their finger’s against the receiver’s muse’s hand, too scared to hold their hand. / blank period ino for sai

sai doesn't fully notice it at first.

yamato-sensei had sometimes warned this about him, how unaware he could be with his surroundings that he could miss the vital information around him. sai would be inclined to disagree. in ROOT, he was trained to always be hyper-aware of his surroundings. even now, sai is always looking over for the quick exits, or a safer place that he could initiate his bloodline limit without restriction, in case things go south. that is also something he is taught in ROOT : always assume that things will go south. or maybe that wouldn't be an accurate lesson. maybe it'd been that, if you're caught, or make a mistake, you'd be dead. and if you're dead, how can you further serve konoha ? how can you ensure danzō-sama's will to strengthen the village, and annihilate its enemies, come true ?

a brush of hands, and sai blinks.

oh, he thinks, looking over to his side now to re-register yamanaka ino, the daughter and direct heir to the yamanaka family tree. one of the great, noble clans that made up konoha's early days. specialised in mind techniques, traditionally placed to lead the barrier team, though its former head had broken it by being apart of the analysis team under the intelligence division, which is reportedly to be better suited for the clan. a trinity clan, tied to nara and akimichi clan respectively, with the sarutobi being their main mediator. independently, they hold quite a significant amount of capture target as a family group; together with the other two, they're a force to be reckon with. whatever you do, try not to be spotted by a yamanaka, says an instructor sai had had once upon a time ago. though he can't remember now who they might be, and what their mask are. were they an actor, or a singer ? or maybe they were ANBU, so it would be animals : jackal, or a coyote ?

another brush of hands, and sai looks down.

he tries to remember— right. they were here to check on the spring festival. sai didn't think much of it, but when he saw the flyers a week ago, his first thought had been to her. and so he'd asked her, and she'd... said yes. sakura had called it a date, and sai had balked at the word, because he could barely make friends, he thinks. what was he supposed to do with dates ? yet ... he doesn't dispute it nor change his mind. what would be going on a date feel like ? sai had read through the few romantic novels he stole from sakura afterwards that it was meant to be nerve-wrecking, heart-palpitating, but sai felt none of that. no. nothing about this was... anxiety-inducing. yamanaka ino does not scare sai, never has. if anything, maybe sai is a bit disappointed that none of those expected reaction had come to him. instead, all he feels is ...

gentleness, like the falling of the sakura petals. sai reaches over, and squeezes ino's hand. he tries to smile, though it feels a little awkward, a tiny bit forced. like a doll playing pretend. he could only hope ino wouldn't dismiss him yet; wouldn't be tired of him too soon. ❛⠀i'm sorry, ❜ he apologises, ❛⠀i should've been holding your hand for a while now, shouldn't i ? ❜

from: the intimacy of hands, @aganais !