Reborn as Sakura and Hinata: Lost in the Wind (Part 2)

Breaking Apart and Coming Together

 Now, wasn't this quite the unexpected situation to find myself in. I had used to hate them, that was my first impression at least. Walking into that room to petty, childish bantering and to be promptly tackled by some loud, handsy girl only had made me dread the role I had been placed in.

Those were simpler days. When had annoyance over directing aimless, stupid passion and hyper-focused rage been replaced with an almost fatherly sense of worry. I couldn't help but note that as I glanced over again to see that Naruto and Sasuke were indeed still on the floor but in no worse condition. When did I stop rolling my eyes at their antics?

When did I stop fearing the color pink, pushing away every over-enthusiastic hug, chastising every inappropriate comment, and policing seemingly directionless spontaneity? At some point, I had come to trust an intelligence behind green eyes and a method to the madness I could never understand. I grew to expect the hugs and 'hair floofs' as she called them, watched as inappropriate comments developed into proper banter.

That bright smile that greeted me as I led Sakura around the floor might have had something to do with it. Even as 'cold hearted' as Gai liked to say I was, seeing them smile had a way of wearing down at my walls and made me want to go easy on them. That then became a genuine desire to see them happy, to make them happy.

Was I happy? It was a question I seldom asked myself because I rarely came to a pleasant answer, but this time I wasn't so sure. Now, the past few years had been... embarrassing in retrospect, an utter disaster if I was to be blunt. No doubt there that I was not happy, and it was entirely odd too. I could have never considered myself a 'happy' person, far from it, but I also never considered myself to be particularly depressive or dour.

I preferred to simply float through life and move day by day, taking things as I went with a passivity that most wouldn't consider happiness, but I wouldn't consider it depression either. That was depression, some of the lowest I'd perhaps ever felt, as if my entire world was being subverted and thrown around. Suddenly, I couldn't go day by day throughout life because I was shoved into a position I'd never wanted, I had just discovered that my past best friend was the cause of almost all of my suffering, and then my Jounin partner disappeared without a trace.

My 'Jounin partner', was that how I thought of her now? 'Student' didn't really seem to apply to her anymore despite how I liked to jokingly throw the term around, I suppose 'coworker' suited much better, an equal.

And she was back now, and, in this moment, I might have considered myself happy, in fact, I had been remarkably so since she'd come back, a great relief from the internal turmoil I had felt for nearly three years. Was it just that she was the final straw in too much piled on stress, replacing that piece and allowing me to be normal again now that she was back?

She let out a happy laugh as I twirled her again. What distinguished her from how I felt about the others? I cared for all of my former students deeply, but there was just... something different with her.

Of course, the other two did not have future sight, that was an obvious enough difference, but that also caused her to rise through the ranks to be my Jounin partner, garnering enough trust and ability that I'd now appoint her as my advisor. I would certainly not want the other two as a coworker or an advisor.

There was something mature behind those eyes, not merely shaped by her ability or what she's experienced, an adult quality she'd carried for a shockingly long time. Despite her troublesome, childish nature, there was self-reflection buried beneath it all, a frightening, piercing understanding that guided her actions as she tried to save us all.

And there she was stepping on my foot.

She let out a surprised yelp as if her foot was the one stepped on and jumped back, "S-Sorry!"