Restoration: Book 2/3

Chapter 28-Mature Content

-Sakura's POV-

After hours of searching the asylum for supplies, all of us returned to the house with our backpacks full. Heavy sleet had started to fall mid-day and by the time we arrived, it was difficult to walk on the slick pavement.

As we started unpacking them in the study, which served as a storage room as well as a makeshift bedroom for Kiba and Konohamaru, Kankuro arrived to make an announcement, "I'm taking a tally! Some of us want to start sparring again to brush up on our fighting skills. If you agree, please raise your hand so I can count your vote."

Even if I personally hate violence, the amount of injuries our group has gotten over the past week from being out of practice was irrefutable.

Thinking about fighting brought back the memory of that awful day at the asylum when I'd lost my temper in the worst of ways and my mood automatically dampened. Keeping myself physically and mentally distracted has been tedious beyond belief, but my distress would still pop up every once in a while and I'd have to quickly find something to do to take my mind off it. I told myself the night I cut my hair that I had to shove the entire memory of the event to the back of my mind until we all somehow fixed this alien situation and then I'll turn myself in for the terrible crime.

With a frown on my lips, I raised my hand.

When I looked around, the only person who didn't have their hand up was Hinata. The look on her face said it all. She was still trying to deal with her fear from fighting Hidan last time. If I'd been beaten as brutally as Neji had described it, I'd probably be feeling the same way.

"Okay, got it! That makes nine for and six against sparring. Shikamaru said since there's so much ice out now, we'll stay here tomorrow and spar in the yard," the loud Subaku man spoke as though he were a referee before disappearing down the hall to inform everyone else.

My eyes danced covertly over to Hinata again before my attention was pulled to Naruto as he spoke in an excited voice, "I hope we get paired up, Sasuke, so I can finally prove that I'm the better fighter!"

I tried not to smile at the annoyed expression on the Uchiha's face, but couldn't hold it back. "You're only going to embarrass yourself," the man in question retorted in a deadpan voice. The two continued to bicker, but I let the sound fall into the background as I focused on my task again.

I really hope I don't get paired with a guy tomorrow, but I also know very well that I need to be for that exact reason. Making out with Sasuke has definitely helped me stay more calm around men in a casual setting, but hand to hand combat wasn't a casual setting.

Once I was finished, I tried to go upstairs to grab the book I was reading from the room, but the doorknob had a tie hanging from it meaning I needed to stay far away from there. After the incident with Temari and Shikamaru being walked in on by Kiba, there was a house meeting where it was decided that hanging an item of clothing from the doorknob would be a signal to others not to enter, regardless if something sexual or not was going on inside.

Feeling a bit embarrassed and defeated, I descended the stairs and looked for something to do to fill the time until Ino and Sai were finished up in the bedroom. When Ino told me in the bath the first night here that she and the Uchiha twin had been messing around, she hadn't elaborated on the extent of what they were doing, but I'd told her with a cherry red face that they'd better not do anything on the bed because other people are supposed to sleep there at night.

Those two had better listen. Just the thought of finding a stain or something on the sheets made me want to gag.

After not being able to find a single thing that I wanted to do, I sat on the sofa in the family room with a defeated sigh, head falling back so I could stare up at the ceiling with tired eyes. Physically, I've recovered from the overexertion that'd left me bedridden days ago, but I still haven't been sleeping that well.