[Open] It's getting hot in here

[showsnopiety]

Who: Caren and anyone visiting the hot springs!
When: Post dungeon, could be right after fail/success, could be days after
Where: Hot Springs of course
What: There's a hot springs, so now there's a hot springs episode.
Rating: Could be a p-13 and beyond because some people are only wearing towels in this place.





[Win or fail, everyone needed a reason and a way to relax. With the fall of the towers, there was all sorts of good things to come from it. Some would say it was the birds; and others would say it was the hot springs.

The large, large pools of heated water. Sure, they could be used as a way to get all steamed up (or even steam punk) but after all that hard work, everyone deserves a break!

Bring your swimsuits, your towels, your drinks and snacks-who knows, you should be able to find them in the bazaars, or even on Airy. It's time to soak in the heat!]

Comments

[mitotic]

[ Yeah, really, don't stare, Naruto, she just might murder you.

Okay, she probably wouldn't, but there are no circumstances under which you're going to like Sakura's reaction. She's nice and relaxed and everything and it would be a shame to have to interrupt this good mood she's in. And maybe it was a bad idea to be in a shared bath with him in the first place, but she's all but forgotten his childhood crush on her, and she's so comfortable around him now that they're older — she forgets.

Naruto doesn't seem so relaxed, though, and she notices when he starts. ]

What?

[acknowledges]

[There are several reasons why Naruto's head abruptly whips around in the opposite direction with enough force to break the sound barrier. She's married. She's his best friend. She's much older than him and probably knows all kinds of techniques to hurt him. He has first hand experience with what happens when he pisses her off.]

You're- [He starts. But then the question remains: how to finish that sentence? What's the least wrong answer? What's the safest thing he could possibly say? Don't look back at her don't look back at her] You're naked.

[mitotic]

[ omg... Naruto....... she isn't even, there's a towel?? She huffs in exasperation at his dramatics, then points out the obvious: ]

So are you, but you don't see me freaking out about it.

[ Never mind that she's older, although it might be hard not to, because it shows in the far more measured response she has to all this than she would have when she was his age. Her temper is still a trip wire, going from zero to towering rage in the span of a second, but what triggers it is different now. Trying to discuss the state of her marriage, for example. Any threat to her family.

Frankly, it's unlikely she would have even gotten in the pool with him at seventeen, because it's quite possible he would have wound up drowned. ]

[acknowledges]

It's just weird'attebayo. [He's trying to make this normal, but the reality is that it just isn't. These are his friends and in a way, he's able to have a part of a future he hasn't earned yet- but he doesn't have the everything else that puts them on even footing. The Sakura he remembers had just restarted his heart. Had looked stricken by Sasuke's arrival and dismissal. They'd had everything to lose and only each other to hold onto. In many ways she's the woman he's always known, but the unknown remains. He hasn't been there for the things that carried her from that battlefield into the person that sits beside him now.

Naruto's gaze moves to the water around him- the ripples he causes when he breathes.]

You and me have never done something like this before. I know you probably know a different me, and maybe we've gotten even closer, but I guess I don't know how to act.

It's not really the same, is it?

[mitotic]

[ There's a whole lot of not normal that's occurred between them the past few days, but it's easier for her to pretend that nothing is amiss than to address what went before. This has always been her way, when she faced uncertainly like this: put it away, save it for later, sometime when it's just her and her head.

Aside from that, though, he has a point: she treats him the same way she treated him back home, when he has no context for the relationship they will build, the shared history in the future. ]

I guess you're right. We wouldn't have done this. [ She sinks down into the water thoughtfully, the surface lapping up above her collarbones as she muses.

Then, oddly, she smiles. ] You're wrong about one thing though.

[acknowledges]

[It does volumes for him- that Sakura sinks down into the water. Naruto can feel the moment she eases into his company and it's like he lets go of a breath he didn't know he was holding. It hasn't occurred to him that she's been treating him differently so much as Naruto finds that he's always aware that there are things he doesn't know. There are looks that she shares with Sasuke. Things that pass between them even when he's standing right there- and he doesn't know what they are or what they mean.

His eyes lift to her profile even as his body lowers, chin dipping into the water.] What?

[mitotic]

You're not a different you.

[ Lifting a hand, she pushes back the bangs that, in the humidity of the spring, had stuck to her forehead. ]

You're still the same person I know, you're just... a little younger than I'm used to.

[ She knows what he meant, of course, but it's true in all the ways that matter. They're both older, certainly, but Naruto has always stubbornly refused to be anyone but himself, and the bond they share is as it always was.

Maybe that's why it's so easy for her to forget herself around him. ]

[acknowledges]

[There's no way for that comment to be anything but reassuring. Naruto has always valued other people for who they are- finding something to learn, finding a lesson to take with him, in everyone he encounters. But Sakura and Sasuke are both different- not quite exceptions to the rule, just something else entirely. Their acceptance of him will always mean something different. It came in an understanding of themselves- all three of them trying to scramble towards different goals with their ankles tied together. All three of them trying to keep the others standing.

She speaks again and Naruto feels the sound of her voice wash over him, like small waves, or something softer. There are things she isn't saying. Spaces between her explanations and Sasuke's, things that don't line up quite right. Naruto knows he isn't a very smart guy- but he thinks sometimes that this is what a secret looks like. That they're trying to protect something- all of them.]

Sakura-chan, in the future- are you happy?

[mitotic]

Am I...?

[ If she's taken aback, it's because it seems to come out of nowhere. It's a strange question. Does she seem unhappy?

Is she unhappy?

Perhaps it's strange, but this actually isn't something Sakura thinks about very often. Doesn't have room to, with her life pretty well full with raising a precocious pre-teen and running a hospital and her projects. Sakura does not do well in idleness; the busier she is, the more satisfied she is with the life she's built for herself. She has a smart, talented daughter. She wishes Sasuke were around more, but she has her friends. She's... content. That's pretty much the same thing, right? ]

Yeah, I think I am.

[acknowledges]

[It's the only question worth asking, in the end. Naruto won't really know this Sakura and Sasuke until he's back home and walking into that future with him. He isn't surprised to find that it takes them a few moments to answer. Happiness hadn't ever been worth measuring, at least, they hadn't been taught to see it that way. Naruto's own long held dream had been about acknowledgement and an escape from loneliness more than it had ever been the hope for a happy life. But somewhere along the line, peacefulness and safety just weren't enough. There were too many things that would be traded for those words. There were too many lives lost and too many secrets kept and in that.

Naruto watches her face, watches the way she considers her reply- weighs and measures and really assesses details that he can only guess at. He wonders what Sasuke will say, when he asks him.

His shoulders soften. It isn't quite relief, but if asked Naruto isn't sure what he would call that feeling either. Maybe that's also contentment. Sakura-chan is one of the most important people in his life. After everything, the idea that she would be unhappy-]

Good.

[The word comes out quietly, and Naruto sinks back into the springs- head propped up on shore and face angled towards the sky.]

Even though Sasuke's still a bastard, I guess I can always count on you to keep him in line, right?

[mitotic]

[ It's a funny thing, about dreams. Kakashi had asked about theirs on their first day as genin, and it's strange to think back on them. They really were children then, and their dreams had been childish, or had lacked understanding, or had been a product rage with no outlet. She can hardly picture herself as the girl who had only stammered about boys with no real ambition of her own. Head full of facts and dates and formulas, but she didn't really know anything, not like she does now. They all changed. Their dreams changed, even as they stayed the same. In a way, they all got what they said they wanted in the end. In a way, it didn't matter, because it had never really been about being with someone, or holding an office, or murdering one person. It makes Sakura wonder if growing up is really just about how quickly you come to understand yourself.

The three of them didn't have much of a choice but to grow up fast. Whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing, or if it all nets to zero when all is said and done, she doesn't really know. She's just glad they did it together. There will always be parts of them that only they three will understand, and Naruto may not think himself very smart, but Sakura thinks he understands them the best.

Sakura smiles, then lets out a huff somewhere between amusement and incredulousness. Of course he'd get that dig in about Sasuke. ]

You two bring out the worst in each other.

[ Sometimes they also bring out the best in each other. In that Venn diagram, there's a fair bit of overlap. ]

[acknowledges]

Hey hey he does that all on his own'ttebayo.

[The thing is, it's never been that simple for Naruto. Team Seven had never been moments of good or bad- they have a codependency between them that other teams were afraid to touch. There was a desperation and a pain and an anger and a joy that made people take one step back instead of one step forward. There had been a boy who wanted only recognition and a boy who wanted only revenge and a girl from whom nothing was expected and they hurt each other over and over and over again. They broke themselves for the love of one another and rebuilt themselves just as fast. It isn't the worst and it isn't the best. Naruto has always known Team Seven to be love and pain in equal measure, and he wouldn't trade it for anything.

Naruto says it to tease, not to hurt and maybe that's where the three of them differ. Intent. Sasuke holds all things at arm's length. Sakura searches for reason. And Naruto always just opens up too fast.

They need each other.
He can't quite look at her when he continues, not around the sudden tenderness in his throat and the wobbling smile on his face.]

I'm glad he's got a home with you, Sakura-chan.