Motoko's Messenger Service
Date: June 15th, 13 years aNb
Days since Team 11 left Mizumiyo Palace: 41
Time: 2:20 PM
"...so that's the whole situation, Motoko-sa and I'm at a loss as to how to handle it best. I mean, obviously, this would be something I need to tell her in person, but… Ah, nudnyy..!" The Kaze Bushin clone of the white-haired medic sighed as he used the Roshsyan equivalent of Shikamaru's continuous declaration of irritation. "I mean I knew Mom fell in love with Dad at first sight and came to Konoha not long thereafter, but she's never talked to us about her parents or siblings, to say NOTHING about them having been murdered! It's obviously too painful… I know I would burn down this whole damned continent hunting down anyone who hurt my sisters; to say nothing of what I'd do if someone actually KILLED one of them!"
'And that goes for me as well, Sho-sa…' Motoko Hata thought grimly, contemplating once again the impending arrival of the Suna bitch, as the clone paced for a moment. 'If anyone laid a finger on you, they'd lose their fucking arm at a minimum!'
The package containing this week's 'message in a bottle' along with a handwritten request to deliver a letter to Sakura Haruno on behalf of Nakahito had arrived a few days before, but Team 11 had already been out of town for a C rank mission to provide additional guard for the wife of the Land of Fire's Lord Daimyo, Lady Shimiji, on her way back to the Daimyo's Palace.
It was a simple two day mission that had turned into FIVE because Tora, Madam Shimiji's cat, kept running away and the team's Feline speakers - Kyouran and Hashimoto - refused to try to convince him to return willingly. In fact, her twin brother was convinced it took them three days to find "that damn brown beast" because the neko-nin trainer and his partner had been actively helping the escapee because they hated how her owner was treating her!
"But you should have seen the tears of joy on Vanya Vorona's face when he saw Alexei's features in my appearance and I confirmed that mother's 33rd birthday this year was July 18. He grabbed me in a bear hug - Roshsyans are notoriously physical like that - and cried how he'd always dreamt Velikaya Knyazhna Shvybzik, Grand Duchess Mischief, had survived the Coup and finished growing up, maybe had a family…" Inugami's clone sighed, bringing his right hand across his jaw, as he shook his head; a gesture that Hata recognized as him trying to process something… He hadn't done it very often over the years she'd known the medic-nin, so every time she saw it she KNEW something was really bothering him. "Karin and I have always known our family has secrets, but actually encountering one of them - seeing the faces and names of an uncle, aunts, and grandparents that had died years before I was born - was surreal, Motoko-sa…"
"As I said before, I don't know how I should handle this, my love, and I really need your advice… Vorona let me see the back of a photo with the girl who became my mother and I instantly recognized her handwriting; it hasn't changed that much in the nearly two decades since the photo had been taken, so even if I HADN'T seen images of Mom from that age I would have known it was definitely her! Imaguni wants to tell her, to give her a gift of being able to reconnect with the past she'd been forced to leave behind, but the rest of me is worried that I'd hurt her by bringing it up; you know. like she had a REASON for never sharing that story." He sighed again. "Well, I'm hitting the limit of what the seal can hold. It's been 35 days since I saw you in person and each one has been like having teeth pulled without anesthetic. I miss you Motoko-sa; I can't wait to see you again. Until then, Ya lyublyu tebya bol'she, chem lyuboy izvestnyy mne yazyk mozhet eto vyrazit'." The medic-nin's final words were slightly distorted as the clone rippled out of existence.
"I love you more than any language I know can convey, too, Sho-sa…" Motoko breathed to her suddenly empty feeling bedroom as the kunoichi's green eyes misted over. "All one and a quarter of them…" She had previously told the medic-nin that she'd been learning Roshsyan from his sister, so he'd started including phrases like the one at the end at random intervals throughout his last two messages to help her learn the complex language of his mother's homeland.
And, she had to admit, it had added an extra feeling of intimacy to their video mails to get that one-on-one tutoring.
'I still want to see his abs again!' Her Naughty side complained even as her body ached from the thought. 'And all points lower!'
"I know, I know… I do too!" She muttered under her breath as she gathered the paper letter from Nakahito to his cousin. "But if I'm going to torment myself like that, it's going to wait until he's here in person!"
A sudden hiss escaped Motoko as she felt a phantom pain in her left shoulder. "Damn it, Rai! Be more careful!" She growled to herself, sending a wave of annoyance to her twin. Whether it was because they were getting older and their abilities were maturing, because Motoko had finally confessed her feelings to Sho Inugami and that had unlocked something within her, or because of the mysterious Reikigan dojutsu that had spontaneously manifested in her eyes, neither of them could be sure, but in the weeks since the trip to the Land of Rivers, the range of their twin bond had increased from 1/3 of a kilometer to at least a full one… Then a stray thought hit her. "Shit, shit, shit..!"
Hata dashed over to a map of Konoha that she'd pinned on the wall. The Village was laid out in a perfect circle, its mighty walls connected to the mountain to the north where the stone faces of the four Hokage hung, rising like a protective embrace around the sprawling settlement. The dense Senju Forest pressed close on all sides, a sea of emerald green that made the clearing seem all the more precious.
A ribbon of bright turquoise water that represented the Naru River carved through the heart of the city, flowing in from the northeast in a graceful, serpentine curve, bending in a long, lazy arc toward the center of the village. Near the city's heart, not far from where Motoko called home, the river pooled and widened at several spots, including the now abandoned Itou Compound, before continuing its journey, curving southward and then westward in elegant meanders until it eventually slipped through the southwestern wall, returning to the wilderness beyond.
The streets themselves formed an intricate web. Great boulevards radiated outward from the center like spokes on a wheel, cutting through the city in straight, decisive lines toward the cardinal points of the compass. These main arteries were intersected by diamond shaped rings of smaller streets that curved to follow the city's circular boundary. Between these major thoroughfares, a dense network of smaller lanes and alleys formed irregular blocks, creating a maze-like quality in many neighborhoods. The eastern and southern districts boasted more geometric, planned grids with their neat rectangular blocks, while other sections sprawled in organic, irregular patterns of gradual growth.
Motoko Hata touched the pin located between the eastern police station that was not far from the East Gate, the Inuzaka and the Akimichi Compounds and the bridge that crossed over the Nara River; the Hata family residence. Her fingers traced over the map to the training dojo reserved for Genin, the CSF, just south of the Academy at the northernmost edge of the city, where her twin was spending his day off.
"Damn it…" The kunoichi sighed; slumping in her desk chair and covering her eyes in frustration. "That's a LOT further from here than Sho-sa's house is…" She muttered, looking at a white pin in the white triangular block that was formed by the main thoroughfare that ran from the South Gate to the Hokage's Manor at the base of the Cliff, the Hyuuga Compound, and one of the cross streets that ran from the main road to the northeastern section of the outer wall that was at least a kilometer closer than the training dojo. Her frustration stemmed from the fact that if she was feeling Raiden's pain from the CSF, he would be able to feel her emotional sensations when Inugami returned and they had their reunion if he was anywhere in the northern half of the Village!
She rubbed her shoulder, the pain already ebbing as Raiden's more durable body adapted. "I hope he behaves himself; that facility is for ALL Genin, not just our Academy year. He'd better not be biting off more than he can…" And then her head rocked back as her twin was punched in the face. "SON OF A BITCH!" Motoko cried out as she instinctively covered her suddenly aching nose; she imagined could feel blood leaking out, but that was probably only on Rai's end. Their twin bond was strong enough to transfer bruises, but never actually cause injuries that resulted in blood loss.
"Hobefully dad's sdill drue…" The kunoichi muttered out loud as she went to the bathroom to check her face.
~*~
Time: 3:05 PM
Raiden Hata turned, spitting a glob of bloody saliva onto the hardpacked dirt of the training space as he took a dab of styptic to stop the blood flowing from his nose, leaving him with a blood mustache on his upper lip. The Combat Simulacra Facility was nearly 100,000 square meters across its four levels, broken into zones to simulate the most common combat zones on the continent: icy mountains, a blazing hot desert, dense forests - regular and tropical, a massive pool for aquatic combat, and a shattered cityscape for urban scenarios. It wasn't as intense as the 44th training zone, the luridly - and probably accurately - named Forest of Death, but it was far more interesting to fight in than the simple wooden floored dojo of the Academy.
"As goob as always, Uchiha…" Raiden smirked as he cleared the remaining blood from his nose and looked at his raven-haired opponent. "So, is what Uzumaki said true? The two of you fought the Demon of the Hidden Mist to rescue your Jonin or is he telling tales again?"
Sasuke Uchiha, sole surviving member of one of the Twelve Clans of Konoha, looked impassively at his opponent even as he unconsciously rubbed his neck at the memory of the senbon needles that the Demon's partner, Haku, had nearly killed him with two and a half months before. The Uchiha had only been cleared to resume intense combat training earlier that day - the rogue-nin's attack had caused extensive injuries that had taken time to properly heal. "Shut up and fight, Hata; that's all you've ever been good for and that's what I need right now."
"Ooh, touchy." The orange haired bruiser chuckled as he feinted, but immediately followed up with a kick that swept the current graduation year's number one rookie off his feet… Only to have Sasuke twist his body into a recovery roll and bring one of his own feet up in a kick that would have laid Hata out like a powerhouse uppercut. At the last moment before it made contact, however, Raiden twisted out of the way and Uchiha's foot barely grazed his ear.
Sasuke paused, frowning at the student that had consistently been one of the kids coming in second in the taijutsu competitions at the Academy. "How the hell did you dodge that? You couldn't have seen my kick!"
Raiden shrugged. He honestly didn't have an answer for his penultimate taijutsu rival - Sho Inugami had pushed Sasuke out of the ultimate position for a number of reasons - his body had actually begun moving on its own as his mind had been flummoxed by Uchiha's surprising recovery.
"I've just gotten better since the Academy, Sasuke, and I haven't been on med leave for months. Tanaka-sensei is able to tank just about everything I throw at him with that diamond-producing Kekkei Genkai of his and Hashimoto's Human Panther form is speed incarnate, so thanks to training against them I've become faster and more durable." He gave his opponent a rakehell grin. "I bet you wish your Sharingan would come in already; you don't stand a chance without it."
"Be careful what you wish for, Hata..." Uchiha growled as his dark eyes suddenly turned red. His pupil remained black, but his right eye had two black tomoe equidistantly spaced on a deeper red ring while his left had a single tomoe.
"Oh, shIIIIIT!" Raiden's shock at seeing one of the legendary dojutsu became a sudden exhalation as Sasuke suddenly made a snap kick that practically folded him in half even as it sent him flying backwards. The orange haired teen stuck a broken brick wall of the urban landscape simulation and gasped a cloudy spray of blood from the impact.
Now it was Uchiha's turn to smirk as he extended his hand in a ready stance and gestured for him to come at him again.
"Oh, so it's like that, huh?" Raiden growled, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his forearm.
Uchiha nodded with those disturbing eyes of his - the Sharingan was too different from how a human eye was supposed to look. "If you disrespect the Sharingan, you disrespect the Clan I've sworn to avenge. I take neither insult lightly."
"You and Inugami are cut from the same fucking cloth… Sandbagging your true skill because you fucking look down on the rest of us!" Raiden grumbled, his ire at his sister's boyfriend transferring to his other rival. "Pisses me the fuck off!"
"You're making even less sense than usual, Raiden…" Sasuke Uchiha countered snidely. "Inugami is nothing; an asshole who never made the top 10. He's all bark. You must have hit your head if you think he's a match for me!"
"Yeah, that's what he wanted us to think… And as much as I hate to admit it, from what I've seen he might actually rival your skill in hand-to-hand…" Hata gritted his teeth as he began to try something that he'd been working on. Tanaka had told him about how Team 13's Jonin, Miho Hyuuga, could channel her lightning natured chakra into her muscles to increase her speed and strength in short bursts. "I was saving this to kick his ass for giving my sister a hickey down in River Country, but I might as well start with you FIRST!"
"Wait, Inugami did wh...?" Uchiha began, shocked by Hata's statement. Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise as a faint purple aura began to emanate from Raiden Hata and the visible muscles of his arms and thighs became thicker; better defined.
Then the orange haired boy vanished from view.
Uchiha's eyes began to dart about, trying to track Hata, but only saw the slightest flicker of his opponent's chakra in his right eye…
"Well, shit…" Was all Sasuke Uchiha managed to say as the first strike hit him from behind like a crack of thunder, sending him flying into the same broken wall he'd knocked Raiden into a few minutes before…
~*~
Time: 3:15 PM
As the door to the Haruno residence, which was at the northeastern end of the lopsided square megablock on the other side of the bridge over the Naru River that was closest to their home, opened to reveal the pink haired form of Sakura Haruno, Motoko Hata frowned briefly as she thought she felt something touch her ear, but the sensation faded as quickly as it occurred.
Haruno stopped short in a breathless gasp. "Oh, Motoko-chan!" She paused, noticing the other kunoichi's hand was extended towards the doorbell, but was just a few centimeters short. "Were… Were you coming to see me?"
"Um, yeah…" The orange haired girl confirmed, suddenly unsure how to explain how she would have a letter from Nakahito for the young woman in front of her; so far only Sho's parents and Karin knew they were dating - Lucia hadn't been told yet as the young girl was apparently a natural gossip like her mother, but had less of a filter - because Motoko figured it was better to wait until Sho-sa was back in town.
'Well, it was going to get out sooner or later… Might as well start with someone that Sho-sa has at least a little respect for, even if she loses points for her obsession over Sasuke.' A slight blush colored her cheeks. 'Not that I'm much better when it comes to him.'
"Konoha to Hata!" Sakura's voice interrupted her internal monologue. The orange haired kunoichi blinked. "Yeah, sorry-not sorry; I don't know what this is since we weren't the closest in the Academy, but I just heard through the grapevine that Sasuke-kun is at the CSF practicing for the first time since he was injured during our final battle in the Land of Waves!"
"Oh, sh…" Motoko breathed in horror, suddenly realizing what had been happening for the last half hour. Raiden and Sasuke's brawls always went to extremes that usually left her… Hata abruptly doubled over in agony as Uchiha's kick, guided with extreme accuracy thanks to his Sharingan, connected with her twin's midsection.
"Motoko-chan!" Haruno cried, dropping to the ground to check on her, the slightly older kunoichi's long pink hair faintly brushing Hata's nose as her head whipped around in search of the downed girl's twin. All the girls in their Academy year recognized the signs of the feedback surges the twins would have. "RAIDEN HATA STOP WHATEVER IT IS YOU'RE DOING!!!" Haruno yelled at the top of her voice.
"Not… here…" Motoko wheezed as she struggled to breathe through the pain.
"What?" Sakura frowned in confusion.
The orange haired girl grit her teeth. "He's… not… here… At… CSF!" She tried to sit up, but the pain brought tears to her eyes and she fell back against the hardpacked dirt of the street. As she did, Motoko's hand popped open and the letter from Nakahito cartwheeled from her grip to bounce off of Sakura's shin.
"The CSF?! But that's on the opposite side of the Vill…" Haruno's brow furrowed in confusion as she reached down and grabbed the object. "What is this..? 'Motoko-sa, Nakahito wanted me to ask you to deliver this to his cousin to save the courier service the cost of sending an additional runner to Konoha. Would you please do so? Love, S.' This is Inugami's handwriting!" She blinked a few times before her seafoam green eyes widened in excited shock. "Holy… shit..! Motoko-chan, did you finally..?"
A pained, but satisfied, smile crossed Hata's lips - probably the only part of her that wasn't hurting at the moment. "Mmmhmm!" She panted in agreement, even as the pain began to ebb; Raiden must have started using the Raiken Muscle Stimulation technique, which in addition to increasing one's strength and speed also reduced the sensitivity of the user's nerve endings. If Rai was indeed fighting Sasuke, it made sense that he'd utilize that trick; her twin had practically thrown himself into learning it after Tanaka-sensei had told them about it.
'It was almost as if he had something in mind for it.' The orange haired young woman thought with a mental frown.
"Well, don't leave me hanging, Motoko-chan, I need details!" Sakura encouraged the other kunoichi. Over the years, the girls had found that getting Hata's mind focused on thinking helped block the side effects of the twin bond when they got to be too intense like now. "He might not be to my liking, either socially or romantically, but you've liked him for…" Her gaze went blank for a moment before she shook her head in realization. "Hell, longer than I can remember!"
"It was… our last… night in… River Country. It was…" Motoko's words slowly became clearer as she spoke thanks to her twin no longer feeling his own injuries and the pleasant mental distraction Haruno had invoked. Hata sighed, not sure how much she was ready to share with anyone. "...Almost magical."
The pink-haired kunoichi gave the orange-haired one an enthusiastic hug. "I'm happy for you, Motoko-chan. Are you starting to feel better?"
Hata gave a slight nod. "I'm getting there…" She glanced at the letter from Haruno's cousin. "So, what was… so important Nakahito… asked Sho-sa for… help delivering it?"
Sakura licked her lips. "You know, that's a damned good question... When I last saw him, 'Hito and Inugami, well, they weren't at each other's throats like I heard they were the day team assignments were handed out…"
"They were. Sho-sa's fault…" Hata shook her head at the memory; hard to believe that was almost five months ago now. "I have no illusions that he's… a nice man, but he's… a good one; deep down."
"VERY deep." A snort escaped Haruno's lips as she began to open the envelope. "But seeing as you were kind enough to play messenger on his behalf AND you owe me all those juicy details, I'll share mine with you, first." She unfolded the letter inside, holding it in such a way they could both read it.
Hey, Sakura, it's your favorite knucklehead cousin,
The pink-haired kunoichi snorted derisively. "More like my ONLY cousin… Knuckleheaded or otherwise…"
Sorry I haven't written - believe me, my annoying teammate already has read me the riot act since, unlike him, I could have done so sooner - but things have been really crazy down here. So, by now you've probably heard that my team getting stuck down here for the past few weeks is mostly my fault because I lost my temper - again - because we caught the bastard behind the plot to overthrow the Lord Daimyo down here.
"Yeah… And I'm going to pummel the hell out of you when you get in arm's reach, you big dumb dork! I got back after that crazy situation in the Land of Waves and the one person I was looking forward to talking to about the whole mess to get my head straight was MIA! And still is!"
Motoko coughed uncomfortably; having been there, she of course knew the whole story. "Just go easy on him… He had a good enough reason that I can't fault him for it, even though it caused this prolonged separation from Sho."
A moue of surprise crossed Sakura's lips. "REALLY? You're cutting him a break despite what it's cost you?! Why?"
"Not really my place to tell, but, well, Kimi's health and happiness was involved."
Haruno closed her eyes in a long-suffering sigh. "Of course Itou was involved; I should have known… Damn it, I wish the two of them would get it through their thick heads that they love each other so they would at least know WHY they do what they do."
"Both to and for each other." Motoko agreed.
"RIGHT?!"
I had my reasons - and I stand by them - but I have since come to realize that my actions have consequences, whether I intended them or not. Miho-sensei has been working with me to try and help me find what triggers my anger and resist it…
"Which I can imagine is going oh so well…" Sakura giggled.
…and as usual I'm a poor student when it comes to anything that uses anything other than my body. Once again I find myself wishing I had more in the brains department like you and Kimi do.
That said, the consequences of my actions have had an unexpected benefit to someone else… and to me as a result.
Sakura looked curiously at Motoko, who shrugged and shook her head; just as clueless as to what Nakahito could possibly be talking about.
See I'm… Well, hang on, I guess I need to back up to the night of the Gala, which was an amazing event even if I had to be stuffed into a SUIT suit as one of Kimi's bodyguards - it's a long story that I promise to tell in person when we finally get out of this mess I caused. The wild events of that night kicked off with Hata-chan ripping into a Suna kunoichi over Inugami with a skilled and barbed tongue like you and Ino use on each other only without that undercurrent of old friendship. Seriously, I always thought Momo was like Hinata; I didn't know she had it in her!
"They heard me do that?!" Hata squeaked before closing her eyes in a moan of realization. "Sho-sa's comms were set on hands-free transmit mode… No wonder everyone already knew about him and me after everything that happened!"
When the Gala actually started, I got approached by an honest-to-goodness princess - her name is Kanna - who asked ME, of all people, to dance while her younger sister practically dragged Raiden onto the floor… I think he kind of enjoyed it. After what happened went down, she was afraid of me - apparently she'd never seen violence before and it weirded her out for a bit.
Now for the unexpected benefit part. So because of what I did, Kanna's older brother was named a regional Daimyo - again, a long story - and, because their father is a fucking bastard, he took his sisters with him when he left. The asshole then tried to assassinate them; his own children and daughter-in-law!
A look of horror crossed Motoko's face. "Oh, no, Kikyo-chan!" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Down in River Country, I was working undercover as Kimi's personal handmaiden, so I worked with the other maids to find things we needed to keep up her disguise as the missing crown princess." Haruno's mouth fell open and a laugh escaped her at the thought of the perpetual tomboy. "But she was one of the maids that helped me the most and married the new Daimyo that 'Hito's talking about."
The attempt failed, but Kanna was almost fatally injured in the attack! If I hadn't gotten us stuck, Sho wouldn't have been down here to save her life.
"Sho-sa did that?!" Hata breathed in unsurprised shock.
"Well, he IS a medic-nin, Motoko-chan."
The flame haired girl rolled her eyes at the other girl. "I meant that he hasn't mentioned it in any of the messages he's sent me each week! I wonder why…"
Sakura Haruno shrugged. "I gave up trying to figure Inugami out back when we were 10… I don't know what it is about him that captivates you so much, but to each their own."
She's got a long road ahead of her… Not to recover, Inugami worked some medical miracle that I doubt I'd understand - assuming he was even interested in explaining it - but to learn how to not be what her asshole father forced her to be her whole life!
This brings us around to where my stupid, reckless act benefited me…
I'm dating an actual princess from another country; like something out of those ninja bedtime stories your mom used to read to us when I'd stay with you guys when Mom and Dad had to leave town to work on one of their projects!
"Oh, wonderful…" The seafoam green eyed girl muttered sarcastically. "He gets a girlfriend after a few weeks in a foreign country and I can barely get Sasuke-kun to say two words to me unless we're on a mission! He'll be insufferable when he gets home!"
'Poor Kimiko!' The emerald eyed girl thought silently. 'I wonder how she's handling this… Maybe I shouldn't have told her about my dream of the future where she and Nakahito were married.'
We had a picture taken at a Katanuki game stall on one of the dates we went on before the floor she's staying on got quarantined for some virus, but I forgot to ask the owner for a copy and the Festival the stall was open for ended a few days ago. I'm hoping that we'll be able to get her a visitor's permit for the Village so you can meet her soon!
So, enough about me, Inugami told me his mom reported that Uchiha and Uzumaki returned from your team's mission as walking wounded. I look forward to hearing everything; the lawyer is hopeful that in the next week the judge will finally dismiss the case keeping us here. If that happens, we should be back in Konoha before Kimi's birthday on the 28th!
Love you, cuz.
Nakahito
"Ugh, he's such a typical guy; lots of info but never the juicy details!" Sakura complained as she folded the letter back up, tucking it and the envelope it came in into her waist pouch. "And speaking of juicy details, spill the ones about you and Inugami while we make sure Sasuke-kun and your twin haven't killed each other or completely wrecked the CSF while they fought!"
~•~
Time: 3:59 PM
For nearly 30 minutes straight Raiden Hata and Sasuke Uchiha had been trading blows or just barely dodging one another.
About 3 minutes ago, the Sharingan in the dark haired boy's left eye had mutated, developing a second tomoe, and suddenly he could track the chakra in his opponent with BOTH eyes instead of merely his right.
Three seconds ago, Raiden - who hadn't noticed the change to Uchiha's eye - dashed in from what he'd come to believe was Sasuke's weak side.
"I wi…" Hata began to declare when suddenly Uchiha's fist struck him in the sternum, literally taking the orange haired boy's breath away as his own speed amplified the impact of Sasuke's fist. The purple aura of the muscle stimulation technique faded; its limit reached. Raiden suddenly realized just how badly he'd come out in this fight as the aches and pains ripped through him now that his jutsu's pain numbing effect faded away. He collapsed onto his back, uttering a frustrated sounding, "Fuuuuuck..!"
Sasuke Uchiha slumped against the brick wall that was suddenly his new best friend. The #1 rookie of the year was definitely the worse for wear, but still clearly in better shape than his opponent. "Good fight… Hata." He gasped as the red of his dojutsu faded. A wince of pain narrowed one eye as he grabbed his neck, feeling the phantoms of his near fatal injury once again. "You really… weren't holding back!"
Raiden weakly lifted one hand in a thumb up. "Never have before; not starting now. 10/10, would fight again."
"Sasuke-kun!" A familiar voice called out. "Where are you and that orange haired moron you're fighting?! His sister is going to kill him!"
"Uh-oh…" Raiden muttered, trying to drag himself into hiding.
A slight smirk crossed Uchiha's lips. "Yeah, hearing Sakura's voice can have that effect on you… I'd help you, but I'm too worn out to do anything."
Sakura Haruno's long pink haired, red dress clad form appeared from around a corner. She was half carrying, half dragging Motoko Hata. Both kunoichi gasped as they saw the state of the two young men.
The orange haired girl grabbed a nearby building and transferred her weight over to it, allowing Sakura to run over to tend to Sasuke. "Seriously Rai? You're such an idiot sometimes!" Hata scathingly growled at her brother.
"I told you where I was going to be so you could stay far enough away to not be affected, Momo!" Her twin protested. "Even if it meant I was only at 75% strength."
Uchiha frowned as Haruno wet a handkerchief from her canteen and began cleaning his wounds. "What are you talking about? You've been at 100% our entire fight. I figured you'd learned some way to block the pain transfer to your sister."
Raiden's green eyes, identical to his twin's, went wide as he looked over at Sasuke. "I was..? But I still..? Damn it!" He slumped back. "I was hoping I only lost because of the power dip!"
"I felt everything from my bedroom, didn't you get my waves of irritation?" Motoko grumbled.
The male Hata shook his head. "I'm still getting used to this being a two-way street, sis… I thought I was just getting annoyed at Mr. Top Rookie over there. Aww, fuck me!" He looked "up" at his sister. "Home is half the Village away from here! If our range has increased that much, then that means when the snow-headed asshole gets back…"
Motoko's orange lips widened into a diabolical grin. "You'd either better get used to feeling us making out or get better at using the Forced Sleep jutsu. Speaking of, if you're done with your little bromance session…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know…" He raised his fingers in the sign of the Ram. "Catch you on the flip side, Uchiha. Forced Sleep jutsu!" Raiden's eyes rolled into the back of his head and before long he began to snore rather loudly. The female Hata's condition improved immediately once the pain centers in what passed for her brother's brain were turned off by the jutsu he'd used.
"I almost feel like I owe you an apology, Hata-chan." Sasuke muttered, scratching the back of his head as Sakura continued to patch his wounds.
'It looks like Sho-sa isn't the only one to have started changing since graduating... The old Uchiha would have sooner slit his own throat than say something like that!'
Hata smiled at the black haired teen as she walked over to her unconscious twin. "It's okay, Sasuke-san; you had no way of knowing." She began looking at Raiden contemplatively. "Now... How do I get him back home..?"
"We'll handle that, Motoko-chan." Hiro Jeitsy declared as he and Karin Inugami appeared from around a corner. The older of the two medically-trained ninja was carrying a stretcher, which he set on the ground by Raiden.
Sakura looked at Inugami, then Motoko, before returning to Jeitsy. "Uh, what's going on here?"
The tow-headed medic-nin clucked as he and Karin rolled Raiden onto the stretcher. "Rai said he was fighting Uchiha today and requested a medical retrieval team pick-up for 4:00 PM when his reservation for this training zone ended." He snickered. "Damn idiot was certain we'd be carting you off this time, Uchiha. He owes me 5,000 Ryou when he wakes up."
"He was closer than he's ever gotten before, but not close enough." Sasuke chuckled with smug self-satisfaction.
The medic, who'd briefly been a Genin on Team 5 before they'd been disbanded and sent back to the Academy for remedial education, took a quick glance at Sakura's handiwork and gave an approving nod. "Nice job, Haruno-chan; glad to see someone was paying attention during the first aid basics seminar that Iruka-sensei had me and Sho run back in November. Have you given any more thought to the offer?"
"Offer? What offer?" Uchiha asked curiously even as Sakura's cheeks began to flush at her crush's interest.
Jeitsy's eyebrows raised. "Oh, she hasn't told you? Based on a recommendation from your Jonin, Kakashi Hatake, the Hospital has extended Sakura an offer to apply for the corpsman program to start training how to be a medic-nin since she still hasn't declared a specialty. It's a gateway into the full medical ninja specialization program that Inugami-chan and I are doing."
"I'm still not sure if that's the route I want to go, which is why I haven't said anything about it to you or Naruto… I had a number of other program offers based on my Academy grades alone; the fact that it took Kakashi-sensei's recommendation to get this one felt odd." Haruno admitted. "Almost like an insult."
"You really shouldn't take it as one, Sakura-senpai." Karin Inugami spoke up as she finished putting bandages on the worst of Raiden's injuries. "There are only 6 Jonin-level medic-nin that can teach while handling their other duties - my parents and Jeitsy's mom are far too busy with the JRD to be in the pool - currently not assigned student learners. Nii-san, Hiro-senpai, and I were guaranteed spots because we're legacies; that's why we're already in the program despite our varied Academy statuses. One spot is ALWAYS reserved for a Hyuuga as their Byakugan makes them unparalleled triage and surgery specialists, leaving only two. A Jonin's recommendation is literally the only way into the program if you don't meet the other two criteria."
Mollified by the words of the red-haired girl, Sakura smiled. "Well, that certainly takes the sting out of it; thank you for explaining the situation, Karin-kohai."
"I also understand a certain amount of congratulations are in order, given the curses Rai was muttering when he placed his bet with me, Hata-chan." Hiro held up an imaginary glass. "Here's hoping you can change Sho from the asshole we all loathe and hate."
"I'll drink to that." Sakura Haruno agreed, also raising a "glass."
Karin's hand came up next, causing everyone to stare at her. "What? It surprises you that I want to see my brother be more well-adjusted? It's been a work in progress the last seven years; I'll take all the help I can get at this point!" The others laughed in amusement.
Sasuke Uchiha's hand came up, eliciting a new round of stares. The Clan survivor was not known for social participation. "To Hata-chan and Inugami; polar opposites that somehow make each other happy."
Motoko's cheeks colored as she joined the imaginary toast. "Thank you all very much, but the real work begins once he gets home… Hopefully sooner rather than later." The five ninja pretended to clink their glasses before laughing once again.
***
To be continued