Satomi P.O.V.
"Hey, Sakura-chan, long time no see," I greet as I walk in the door. We had just returned from the mission, and I decided to pay my brother a visit in the hospital. Upon seeing me, Sakura's entire demeanor lightens as she stands up from her seat beside Sasuke.
"Satomi! Did you and Naruto find Tsunade?" she asks eagerly, taking my hand in hers. I offer a small smile, nodding lightly to her. She gasps in hopefulness, tears brimming her eyes.
"She has to take care of a few things first since she is the Fifth Hokage now, but I'm sure Naruto-kun will drag her over here sooner or later," I say, pulling up a chair to sit next to Sasuke's bed as she takes her seat once again.
"How has he been while we were gone?" I ask quietly, taking in his pitiful appearance. He was sickly pale, and the bags under his eyes were a dead giveaway that he wasn't resting comfortably, most likely because of the genjutsu Itachi had placed on him.
"He hasn't woken up at all..." Sakura reveals solemnly, clenching her hands over her knees. I hum in acknowledgment, moving a piece of Sasuke's hair out of his face.
In truth, I'm scared to know what he'll do when he wakes up.
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"Is this Sasuke Uchiha's room?" a familiar voice asks, grabbing the attention of Sakura and I. Upon seeing Lady Tsunade's face, a small smile is brought to my lips.
"Indeed, Lady Tsunade. This is my brother, Sasuke, and our other teammate, Sakura," I introduce pleasantly. Sakura stands up and bows respectfully to Lady Tsunade, beginning to tear up at the thought of Sasuke waking up.
"Thank you for coming, Lady Tsunade," she thanks gratefully. Lady Tsunade smiles before walking past her over to Sasuke's bedside, right as Naruto dashes in the door.
"Hey, Sakura-chan! Grandma Tsunade here is going to make everything alright again!" he cheers. I smile wistfully at that, a hard edge in my eyes. Even if Sasuke is going to be healed, he might not be the same as before. I'm sure Itachi's appearance really hurt him emotionally.
Lady Tsunade places her hand over Sasuke's forehead, her caramel eyes flickering over to Sakura who was hovering on Sasuke's other side. I stand next to her, while Naruto places himself next to Lady Tsunade.
Moments later, Sasuke groans, his face twisting as he wakes up for the first time in over a month. Sakura throws herself on top of Sasuke, tears streaming down her face at his awakening. I clasp my hands together, a smile appearing on my face as Sasuke starts to make sense of what's going around him.
"Thank you, Lady Tsunade," I say quietly, offering her a small nod in thanks. She returns the nod, glancing down at Naruto, who was watching sadly as Sakura expresses her feelings for Sasuke blatantly.
"Thank you, too, Naruto," I say, "You never cease to amaze me, that's for certain."
Naruto gives me a wide grin, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Lady Tsunade hums, having noticed that I said that for Naruto's sake. However, what I said was the absolute truth. Naruto's an idiot, but at the same time you can't help but be impressed by the kid. He makes the impossible possible.
"Alright! Now that Sasuke's healed, we can move on to Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cheers, pushing Lady Tsunade out of the room impatiently. I chuckle at his antics, as well as Lady Tsunade's grumbling about how she's going to teach him a lesson.
"Give Kakashi-sensei my regards, Naruto," I call, to which Naruto gives me a thumbs up. Sighing, I return my attention to Sasuke, who was being bombarded by Sakura.
"Sakura-chan, would you mind going to get Sasuke some water? I would like to talk to him alone for a few minutes," I ask gently, to which she nods and exits the room without hesitation. With everyone gone, I sit in the chair next to Sasuke and gaze at him silently.
"What happened?" Sasuke croaks, lifting his onyx eyes to my own. I give him a woeful smile, grabbing his hand and squeezing it as if to give him support.
"They are gone. Naruto and I went on a mission to find the Fifth Hokage and we just got back," I inform, making sure to keep the part about meeting Orochimaru and Kabuto to myself. He doesn't need any more stress at the moment. He quite literally just woke up from a coma.
"I don't care about the Hokage. I just want to know about Itachi," he scoffs, trembling on the bed. I sigh at his antics, playing with his hair to calm him down. Okaa-san would do this when she was still alive, so it always calmed him to an extent.
"He left after the fight. No one has seen or heard of his whereabouts since."
Sasuke grits his teeth, bringing an arm over his eyes as he fell into the mattress. I could practically feel his disappointment in his skills from where I sat.
"You've gotten really strong, Sasuke. I'm proud to be called Sasuke Uchiha's twin sister," I tease, trying to lighten the mood. He doesn't react to my statement at all, merely laying in bed emotionlessly.
"You know I love you, right?" I ask quietly, my voice almost cracking. It hurt me to see him in such a state. He's always been emotionally vulnerable, especially when it comes to Itachi. Meeting him and losing must have been a really hard blow to him.
Sasuke brings his arm down from his eyes, turning his head to meet my eyes slowly. Upon seeing the pent-up tears I had, he sighs and gives me a small smile.
"Yes, I know."
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"Satomi-chan, are you excited for the festival?!" Sakura squeals, grabbing my arm and jumping up and down. It's been a few days, and the entire village was celebrating the return of Tsunade Senju, the new Fifth Hokage.
"I guess. It'll be nice to dress up, though. It's not often I get to do that," I muse to myself, a small smile quirking my lips. Glancing at Sakura, I can tell there was something else on her mind... and I bet I can guess what it is.
"Did you come here to ask Sasuke to accompany you?" I ask with a tilt of my head, chuckling in amusement as a blush rises to Sakura's face.
Bingo.
"Is it that obvious?" she questions, shuffling around nervously. I give her a playful smirk, nudging her shoulder with a laugh.
"Only because we're teammates, and you're one of my best friends."
Sakura blushes even deeper at my comment, clasping her hands behind her back in embarrassment.
"You consider me one of your best friends?" she voices, scratching her head nervously. It seemed as though she wasn't sure of where my feelings for her stood, since I'm usually quite soft-spoken about things like that.
"Of course I do! You, Sasuke, and Naruto are very precious to me, so don't think otherwise. I may not verbalize it like I am now, but I still cherish the three of you," I assure. She sighs in relief, a wide grin spreading across her face.
"Who are you going to the festival with? Anyone special?" Sakura asks, raising an eyebrow suggestively. I giggle at her, before shaking my head.
"I was planning on hanging out with you, Sasuke, and Naruto, but since you want a little bit of alone time with my brother I guess I'll just hang out with Naruto," I shrug. Sakura sighs in disappointment, as if she expected me to have a date.
"What a shame. Perhaps you'll find that special someone at the festival," she suggests. I scrunch my nose at the thought, not really wanting to go out of my way to find someone I like. My preferred way is to just let it happen naturally.
"So where is your brother right now?" Sakura asks impatiently, getting straight to the point after our little chat. I place a hand on my chin in thought.
"He should be at the weapons shop. I'm pretty sure he needed some new kunai," I say, watching as Sakura grins in thanks.
"Thanks, Satomi-chan! I'll see you later!" she calls after her, waving whilst she dashes off to presumably the weapons store.
A few hours later, I return home to prepare for the festival. It's not very often I get to dress up, so I might as well go all out. Rummaging through my closet, I pull out a kimono I had bought impulsively one day, but never had the chance to wear it before, since we were unexpectedly given a mission the night I was planning on wearing it.
It was a short navy kimono, with gold floral embellishments and white doves littering the silky cloth. To top it off, a gold obi was wrapped around the waist. It truly was the most beautiful article of clothing I owned.
I slip on the kimono whilst humming, pulling small portions of my hair up into twin buns, leaving down the rest of my hair and letting small pieces frame my face. To perfect the look, I place small golden chains around my buns, dangling down as an accessory. I didn't put any makeup on since it wasn't really my 'thing' per say. I'd rather stay natural.
With a small sigh, I slip on my ninja sandals, since I didn't have anything fancier, and began my trek to Naruto's house. As I pass through the streets, I see many people setting up stands to buy various finger foods and trinkets, lanterns being hung up for an added effect.
It was truly a sight to behold.
Approaching Naruto's apartment door, I lightly knock on it and wait for him to open it. He already knew I was coming, since Sakura had informed him of the plan. Naruto soon opens the door, dressed in a simple yet elegant yukata.
"Wow, Satomi-chan! You look really pretty!" he compliments, a bright smile on his face. I chuckle at his comment, tilting my head to the side with a small smile.
"You look very nice as well, Naruto-kun," I reply, watching in amusement as Naruto fumbles for his key. Once he finally locks up the apartment, we head towards the stalls just as they were beginning to open.
People bustled in the streets, smiles lighting up everyone's faces as they enjoyed the festival with friends and family. Children ran around in the streets, some with new toys in their hands.
The lanterns cast a beautiful glow, setting the playful mood. It was the perfect day for a festival.
"Satomi-chan! Look, there are all of our friends!" Naruto shouts, pointing over at a stall where Team Guy had just met up with Team 8 and 10. What a coincidence.
"If it isn't Naruto and Satomi. How's it going?" Kiba greets, a cheeky grin smothered on his face. Naruto raised a hand in greeting, dragging me over to everyone.
"What's up, Kiba! How are you and Akamaru?" Naruto asks, creating small conversation. A smile graces my face as everyone begins chatting away. All except one.
I flick my eyes over to Neji, who was leaning off to the side and not participating in any conversation. Quietly approaching him, I offer a small smile, which he returns.
"How are you doing, Neji? I haven't seen you around lately," I say, standing next to him as we make small talk beside all of our friends. He sighs, although the smile remains on his face as he glances down at me.
"I'm doing well, thank you. You look very nice tonight, Satomi," he compliments me hesitantly. A light blush rises to my face, much to my surprise. Naruto had said practically the same thing to me, although coming from Neji it just felt... different.
"As do you," I reply, my smile reaching just a bit farther from his compliment.
"What have you been up to? I haven't really seen you since the chunin exams."
"I've been pretty busy lately. I went on a decently long mission to find Lady Tsunade, and we ran into some trouble along the way, but everything's okay now. We're lucky she came back to the village," I ramble, thinking back to the mission to track down Lady Tsunade.
"I see. My team has been doing C-Ranked missions, as well as a few B-Ranks. Although, we've been needing to put in a replacement for Lee since he's injured," Neji sighs. I raise an eyebrow at this, not knowing that Lee was still injured.
"I thought Lady Tsunade had healed him?"
"No, she examined him and it turns out that he will most likely never be a shinobi again."
I gasp in surprise, my eyes traveling to where Lee stood. He seemed very disheartened, most likely from the news he had received.
"I'm sorry to hear that," I whisper out, feeling sympathy for him. You could tell that he had a passion for the life of a shinobi. Nothing else seemed to really fit him, now that I think about it.
"Life will go on," Neji grumbles, although I could hear the underlying sadness in his tone. Flicking my eyes over to a nearby stand, I notice one selling some Kohi Zeri in a small dish.
"Ne, Neji, would you like to get some Kohi Zeri with me? I can pay for the both of us," I ask, pointing over at the stand eagerly.
"Why not," he replies easily, taking my hand and leading me over to the stand. I bite my lip at his touch, a small blush rising to the surface yet again. He glances behind his shoulder at me, giving me a genuine smile that I had never seen on his face before.
Neji looked happy.
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