Haruno

Battle For The Bridge

Shikamaru wasn't the type to put in the effort for a stroll around the village for team bonding and anyone that had met him could attest to that. He had his fingers interlocked behind his head as Ino dragged both him and Choji around the village after team training was up for the day. They were in the thick of the civilian market district at the point in the afternoon that all shoppers tended to emerge and raid the market. Now, he dreaded to think that he was one of them. Choji lugged around behind them as Ino peered into the jewellers' and pointed excitedly at a pair of pearlescent pink earrings and a matching necklace.

"What's the point of team bonding if there's no bonding?" Choji deadpanned much like Shikamaru would if he wasn't conserving energy for his escapade that night. Their similar responses to situations were one of the reasons that Choji was the only person he talked to: in most ways, they were one and the same.

"If we all go shopping together, we know what each other likes. That's bonding - I wouldn't have expected you to understand anyway," she huffed. "See here? I'm buying this set but it's for Sakura, not for me. I like purple best - just so you know. Do you think I could buy the studs for Naruto - he hates the ones that hang."

"Yeah," Choji drawled. "Can we go to Yakiniku Q now?"

"No." Ino grunted and stomped on Choji's foot, eliciting a shriek. "We've barely started."
The afternoon faded into the evening and Ino had accumulated twice the quantity of clothes Shikamaru was sure he had in his wardrobe. His feet were aching, his hand were raw from the rub of shopping bags and he knew Choji's only motivation was the promise of Yakiniku Q beef; yet Ino was still going strong and had her sights set on a dango store to buy something for Sakura's mother. They made it to Yakiniku Q where they ate a considerable amount, after which Ino decided she needed to freshen up. This allowed Shikamaru enough time to leave a note in the gift box bought for Sakura.

Meet me at the compound gates before dawn.

Nara S.

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It hadn't occurred to Sakura that Kakashi might've been wrong about Zabuza's recovery time. Sure, he was arrogant about his intelligence and downright self-important at times, but, as he had years of experience in his time, she had assumed he was correct in his approximation. He was not. But being unprepared was never going to be her downfall.

One might have called it strange that she was more terrified here, even with preparation someone like Sasuke with her, but she chalked it down to the fact that she now knew that this wouldn't be like training at all. Their first encounter: she admired his technique rather than analysed it as soon as they started it, wasn't pushing herself to fight harder and smarter and allowed herself to get hurt, and upon getting hurt, she'd crumbled like paper in water. She'd been treating it like training with Shiro whom she trusted not to fatally hurt her which translated well fighting chunin, but not in a fight with an S-rank criminal. Stupidity and naivety on her part; at least it wasn't being unprepared.

As soon as her senses picked up and her Inner became more alert to signal the warning bells, she'd called out the code for the evacuation. It went just a little less smooth than rehearsals when she shouted 'sale at the market!' as the workers hadn't really struck up cheer and conversation, but rather filed off the bridge in loud, yet clearly tense bustle. Sasuke picked up on the signal immediately, only evident by a shift in stance and his slow amble towards her side of the bridge. Perhaps, if Zabuza were any smarter (at least socially), he would've picked up on the change in attitude but maybe Sakura couldn't expect that a man without a childhood could've had time to develop compassion.

In fact, it took approximately seven gut-wrenching minutes for Zabuza to begin the ambush. First came the settling of the mist: familiar, predictable and something she could deal with sensing. She didn't sense him, per se, for another while but she could predict his actions in the way he moved the mist around her. There was a cloud of it swarming the edge of the bridge, which was an obvious indicator of an ambush. Underwhelming plan from an S-rank, she had to admit, but she couldn't fault him for thinking she was an idiot willing to fall for it. Either that or it was an intentional deterrent. That would make more sense.