||「 I’m known to be stubborn.」

  He said with a grin, tapping the table for whatever she was having to the bartender and he took a seat next to her. Even if she was on the verge of leaving, he wouldn’t be offended, she looked a little exhausted tonight.

「 Allow me to pay for you next drink,      as an apology for bothering you tonight.」 

  Frankly, the only reason why he thought of joining her was because didn’t want to be by himself. Hell-- he didn’t even like alcohol with how red it makes him. Though most would take off their gloves, he left them on when he drank. Not only was he not proud of the scars left from the past, the little stitch marks where his hand was connected to his wrist would be even more noticeable even in the dim lighting of the bar.

「Even though you suspect I’m criminal,     are you going to let me be like when we     first met? I promise I have been behaving.」

There was a teasing grin on Natsuo’s face already by the time his baby sister reached his little hiding spot, and he reached up to ruffle her hair. She wasn’t a little kid anymore, she hadn’t been since she’d taken on the mantle of kunoichi, but she would always be his precious little sibling, no matter her rank or age.

“Sorry, little blossom, I’m glad you enjoyed the little scavenger hunt, but I can’t tell you what’s going on yet.” He tsked, not exactly looking guilty about this, “You’ll see soon, though, I promise. In about ten minutes, actually, if we keep to the schedule.”

In true Natsuo fashion, he simply spun around on his heel and began marching in a seemingly random direction, though he was keeping an even pace that way Sakura didn’t have to rush to keep up with him.

‘ is it , though ? ’ a drink held in the same hand as a burning cigarette , apparently tonight was the night of indulging her most secret of vices. ‘ all i want is to be me. if that’s so wrong , fine. ’ but karin was ultimately right , how was it fair for sakura to expect so much out of her partners ? sure , she was happy with open and non exclusive relationships but that had mostly to do with her commitment issues , and personal fear of genuine connection. a rough sigh past her lips as she hastily knocked back the rest of her drink , slamming the glass on the floor beside her and rolling over so she was now laying on her stomach , looking up at a still sitting karin and taking a drag from her cigarette.

‘ do you think you could do it , karin ? or do you need commitment too ? ’ sakura had spent her whole youth chasing after a boy who would end up breaking her time and time again , she indulged in that torture because it was familiar and now that she was free from it … she still wished for that same torture because of that familiarity. a happy , loving , long lasting relationship didn’t seem plausible for her because she gets so …bored. sakura lifted herself up on her knees, crawling towards karin and then plopping down directly beside her , the harsh taste of brandy coating her tongue. her head rolled to the side , resting itself against the other girls shoulder and another dramatic sigh emitted from the bottom of her throat. ‘ i guess what i want is wrong. i just don’t care. ’

       Karin had a glass of whiskey in her fingers, she had lost count of how many drinks she had drunk. She had Sakura by her side, also using those licit and wonderful drugs. Totally losing control was not something she liked to do but sometimes it was extremely necessary. Turn off the mind to survive the next few days. At the moment they were arguing about love life — Sakura’s specifically — and she tried to give at least a good advice. ❝ Being you is not so wrong, but when it just fucked you up it’s time to think again. ❞ She replied, looking out of the corner of her eye. Sakura had even lain down on the dirty drinking floor. What a night.

                     “Ah... Haruno.” 

        Saburo settled the box of-- whatever it was-- down on the table. He presumed it had to be medical supplies of some kind. He was admittedly rather curious considering it had been his third trip to the hospital in as little as a week and that wasn’t exactly usual. He hardly ever saw the woman before him and they were barely acquaintances with the shared experiences of having survived combat and war. The shinobi wasn’t unused to the hospital. Quite the opposite. He wouldn’t say he spent a lot of time there, but it had been enough. Life of ANBU missions, he supposed. 

     “ i’m so sorry ------ !! “  whirling around ,  he QUICKLY takes a hold of one of sakura’s shoulders to steady her .  they had COLLIDED quite roughly ,  and could have easily made QUICK WORK of the both of them if they were any less capable .  in the brief few seconds of this encounter ,  lee almost FORGETS to release her ,  color barely scorching his features .  “ are you okay ... ? ” 

HELLO PRETTY BABY WHERE YOU BEEN? // Comfort Sentences // @hcpeborne

Ignorant. Insensitive. Thoughtless. Obnoxious. How dare she say such a thing. How could she even assume she understands how he feels? To go as far as to say she’s been there. How unbelievably incorrect she was.

It was a day like many other’s for Sakura, but a day with a kick. She’d had a good sleep the night prior and had woken up refreshed with relatively little work to complete throughout the day. A quick jog, a shower, some breakfast and a steaming hot cup of tea later the young woman had found herself nestled at her desk within the walls of her office at the Hospital. Nimble fingers flipped through the days agenda, a few meetings, a minor surgery, regular checkups and one Psych eval scheduled in fifteen minutes. “Atsushi Kaekō.” Sakura tested the name outloud, finding that it rolled nicely off her tongue. She was clearly a capable woman, one who had chosen Konoha as her official place of residence and now wished to serve as a Shinobi for the Village. These Psych Evaluation’s were standard, and normally pretty fast going.

Rising from her seat slowly Sakura clipped Kaekō’s information to a bare clipboard, arms stretching catlike above her head and allowing a heavy yawn to slip past her lips. Quick feet took her out of the room, the early morning sun showering the hospital in an amber glow as she made her way down the hallway. Respectful nods, and cheery good mornings were sent Sakura’s way courtesy of her staff and she kindly replied as per routine. Out of all the bad days Sakura had been experiencing, imprinting dark circles underneath her normally untampered skin and drawing the genuine life out of her normally vibrant gaze, today was a beacon of true hope for healing, and what was to come. Her knuckles danced against her patients door, thankfully settled just down the hall from her office, to announce her arrival and soon after she could be seen slipping inwards with a bright and welcoming smile.

“Good morning, my name is Dr. Haruno and I will be conducting your Psych Evaluation today.” Sakura introduced, stepping forward and offering Kaekō her outstretched hand. Sometimes it felt good to be happy, and most times it felt good to be doing her job. “How are you doing today?”

Kaeko’s arms were crossed over her chest in a subconsciously defensive pose. One of her feet tapped impatiently on the floor as she waited for her appointment to begin. It wasn’t that Sakura was running late or anything. Kaeko was just feeling anxious about the whole thing and wished for it to be done with already. She didn’t imagine this evaluation would dredge up anything of concern. After all, shinobi saw and did things at varying levels of horror on the job, and they still managed to be “fit for service” anyways. Still, though, something about the chance that some of her more private thoughts and feelings might have to come forth was unsettling.

She had to wonder if this really was standard procedure. She’d never had anything this formal back at home. She went through the academy, graduated, passed all necessary tests, showed up for her various interviews, and then she was just a part of the system. The interviews could be seen to operate in a similar fashion as this type of psychological evaluation, but even those were far more informal than this was already proving to be. She had to wonder if Konoha put everyone through these hoops... or if it was just an outsider like her. She would try not to mention that. Paranoia probably wouldn’t look good on paper.