Fiat justitia, ruatcaelum

{{A/N; A quick note on age. The main stream characters, like the rookie nine, are scattered among the late teens (17-20) to include Haku and Sango. Lee, Neji, Itachi, and the others near them are mid to late twenties, as is Anko. Hanabi is only about 15. Zabuza and Kakashi are in their late fourties, and all the sannin are early sixties. +/-. I hope this clears up some of the odd confusion points. Thanks.}}


Making Promises - Part I

Sakura lay in the warm bath. However he had done it, Zabuza was a master that deserved recognition as a home builder. The bathwater was still clear and warm an hour after Sakura had lain there an hour and washed herself.
The mirror in the back wall hadn’t fogged up and she could see her reflection. The ink black hair… her eyes seemed so much darker and her skin was so pale.
She was also missing all her old scars. The only marks she still had were the tiny puckers from Haku’s needles and Kakashi’s hand.
Not the one from the time she had tripped a wire and wound up with a kunai buried in her calf.
Or the line of dashes she had acquired when a shuriken had tracked across her back.
Or that set of funny marks one gains while young and slowly forgets where exactly they came from.
“Knock, knock…” Ino stuck her head in, “You seem awfully quiet in here. Care for some company?”
Sakura smiled. Maybe Ino wasn’t that different… “Please, come in.”
Ino smiled back and pushed the door open.
“I brought some new clothes. Just things Haku and I thought you would like. And some stuff we don’t want anymore… You don’t mind, do you?” Ino bit her lip.
“No.” Sakura lay against the edge of the tub, resting on her crossed arms, “ I really appreciate it. Thank you. The gods know I could use some clothes.”
Ino laughed and held up the robe she had brought, “This is just a bathrobe, the rest is in your room.”
“My room?”
“Yeah.” Ino sat down on the edge of the throw rug, “Itachi thinks Zabuza should train you and Zabuza seems to think you don’t really have a place to hang your kunai.”
“Could you tell them thanks for me?” Sakura smiled. Memories of her old friend surfacing. *Times a lot like this…*
“Sure.” Ino rummaged in her pocket. She pulled out a vial of a fiery red fluid.
She fidgeted for a moment, “I know it isn’t really much of my business, but I overheard Itachi and Sasuke talking about some rumor. Something about a girl Uchiha. So I made you some hair dye.”
She handed it to Sakura. “As pale as you are, I though blond would look a little funky, but you do seem better suited to a light color. You’re even pastier than Sasuke was before I started shooing him into the sun.”
Sakura laughed. He did seem a few shades darker than she recalled. “Thanks.”
She uncorked the bottle and sniffed it. It stung out with a spicy smell. She tipped it back and swallowed, the burn falling down her throat like the shot of alcohol the white haired jonin had given her.
Her scalp itched and the black began to drip from her hair, running down her back and into the water.
“Oh, wow…” Ino watched wide eyed.
Sakura turned to face the mirror. The dull black was running off of her shoulders and drifting away as the water moved on sluggishly, replaced by a blazing red highlighted by brilliant golden flares.
“Nice hair.”
Sakura looked through the mirror at the door. Itachi stood in the doorway, arms crossed, a wide grin on his face. For a moment, Sakura wondered why Ino hadn’t gone for the older brother. Then it occurred to her she was still in the tub.
Ino had pulled a towel from the rack and held it up over Sakura, “Don’t you know how to knock!? Privacy much! Why would you come in here anyway, you freaky eyed pervert!”
“I did knock!” Itachi held up his hands in defense, “Didn’t I?”
Ino shook her head.
“Well, I thought about knocking. Though about it really hard! I really didn’t, did I?”
“What did you need?” Sakura pulled the towel around herself, watching Itachi.
Itachi was busy looking at his hands, “Why did you guys not knock? I wanted to let you know I have some old gear that needs going through. There’s a store room just down the hall where I keep all that sort of stuff. Come find me when you‘re dressed.”
A smirk Sakura had seen on countless older boys crossed his face, “Or before then, if you prefer. I’m impartial really.”
And he left. *Damn he’s quiet. And so graceful…*
Ino waited a few moments after Itachi left before she moved toward the door.
“Just be careful around him, Sakura.” She turned, her eyes searching Sakura’s as she chewed her lip. “Guard your thoughts. And don’t think too loudly. He’s really good at reading lips.”

Sakura hesitated outside the door. The last door on the right. Just as Ino had directed her. It was open a crack, a thin band of light splitting the hall.
“You can come in already.” Itachi’s voice drifted from the room almost distractedly. “And stop breathing so hard.” His hand appeared, pulling the sliding door open, “It’s like you’re nervous or something.”
His eyes seemed to almost glow. He slipped back inside, leaving the door wide open.
Sakura came around the corner, wincing as her boots scuffed the floor. And she gazed in awe.
The walls were lined with weapons in scores of designs. Racks were set up and loaded down, sorted into basic classes; swords, lances, chained weapons… Crates of shuriken and kunai in a dozen different sizes each.
“Zabuza turned his collection over to me shortly after Sasuke and I arrived here.” Itachi pooled a ball of luminous chakra over his palm, releasing it over Sakura’s head. It drifted, much like one Itachi had over his shoulder. “He’d been collecting it over the years and just didn’t seem to want it anymore…”
Sakura gazed at a stack of fuma shuriken four feet across.
“This is amazing…” She turned around, inspecting the sword rack. *How do you even wield this one?* She picked up a sword that seemed to have been broken, sliced into a dozen segments and tied up with cables.
“That’s one of my favorites, but really advanced.” Itachi held his hand out.
Sakura laid the hilt in his hand, the blade hanging limp.
“It has a spool inside the hilt, here…” he let the blade hang down as he gestured to a place in the cross guard, “And depending on how you run the chakra through it, it reels in or out…” The blade drooped, the wire running longer. Then sucked back up, ringing like song, the blade solid but for the lines in it.
“The art to wield them is a Taijutsu specialty, and beginners can get exhausted pretty quickly.” He let some slack back into the blade before he hung it back on the rack. “But they are beautiful to watch…”
He seemed distant for a moment, smiling vaguely.
“Oh, who isn’t really important, is it?” Itachi waved a hand at her, “We’re here for you right now. So what were you in the mood for?”
Sakura realized she had pursed her lips and opened her mouth to breathe, “Something pretty basic, I think. Nothing flashy or fancy.”
“Right,” He clapped his hands together, rubbing them briskly, “Yeah… We should probably stick to knives… Maybe some long kunai?”
He moved to the end of the aisle, pulling the lid of a crate open. “I’ve got some in here…” He pulled out a dark leather pouch. The four kunai were as long as her arm and the ties looked like they would go around her waist.
“It was meant for a large man’s arm, I think, but you’re pretty…” Itachi looked up, holding the pouch in both hands, “Umm… Pretty slight, so it should go clear around your thigh nicely.”
Sakura looked down at her costume. The leather plate shirt fit tightly, as did the shorts. The dark duster hung past her knees and she wore a black bandana around her hair, letting it hang low, it reached the middle of her back.
Sakura kept her mid blank as she accepted the sheath and wrapped it around her leg. The ties were long enough to pass around four times and still dangle when tied.
*I’ll need to get a belt…*
“And probably as sash, too.” Itachi scratched the back of his head, “You know, for visual… um… balance… Yeah. Anything else?”
Sakura looked back at the floor a she tied the straps. “A few small shuriken. Maybe a dozen three inch… and four inch kunai. Six or eight should be enough.”
“Sure.” Sakura watched as he moved over a few aisles, opened a box and dug into it.
“Damn!”
Sakura went over to the Uchiha. He was sucking on one of his fingers.
“Let me see.”
Itachi closed his eyes and held out his hand. One finger was slick with saliva, but none wounded.
“Umm, Itachi. You aren’t cut.”
“Really?” He didn’t open his eyes. “Well… heh… That happens once in a while…” He pulled his hand free, “Right. I’m gonna… um… get in my evening training and turn in. Just, uh, help yourself and let Sasuke know what you got…” Itachi stepped around Sakura, heading for the door with long strides, “Keeping inventory and all that…”He bounced off one of the racks and vanished around the corner. The ball of chakra he had summoned for himself had fallen behind just shy of the doorway and drifted slowly to the floor.
A dull thud echoed from the walls. Then a second.
Sakura hugged herself, looking after him. *What the hell is wrong with you! Damn silly schoolgirl or something?*
She pulled a handful of shuriken from the open box and a leather pouch from the rack, dropping the star-shaped knives within.
She ran for the door, stepping over the glowing orb as she went.
Then she stopped. Turning.
The ball had come to rest on the floor. Just sitting in a pool of it’s own light. Pale blue and a very sheer red hue that seemed to streak it. Sakura pulled the ball from over her shoulder and added it to the ball on the floor, watching as they slipped together like droplets of water.
She left quickly, leaving the door open and passing a pair of marks in the wall, depressions just above her shoulder.
Sakura gave them a half a glance and carried on. They were oblong, perhaps three inches high and four long, a ripple pattern across the top.
And in the dim light, she could not see the trail of dark crimson droplets that remained close to the wall.

Sakura stepped through the open gates. The guard that had seen Kaji had been replaced, though all the new guard saw was a mist nin with blazing red locks and goggles with dark blue lenses.
Her outfit might have been called revealing, aside from the thigh holster and the large vest. Thigh high socks stretched up past her boots and her gauntlets looked as severe as ever. She had adopted face wraps as well in a deep black, hiding half her face.
The guard met her eye and winked.
Sakura tossed the long braid over her shoulder and walked away. She still used the headband as a belt, and had tried to shine it up. Though it still bore a few good dings.
Bizarrely enough, the Hyuuga complex was where it should have been. Though she didn’t remember the need for guards…
“You business?” The guard halted her several paces from the gate.
“I’m here to see Hyuuga Hinata.”
“Your name, miss?”
“Naru.” Sakura pulled it from memory, flipping her hair, “If she doesn’t recall the name, just tell her I’m the mist nin from the tea shop.”
“Very well.” The guard back up to the gate and spoke in a low tone to a young man waiting in the shadows. The boy nodded and bound off into the complex.
The guard resumed his place at post, though he didn’t relax. “Out of personal curiosity,” He watched her carefully, “What is the exact nature of your business?”
Sakura pulled the braid over her shoulder, “I owe her money. Lost a bet and didn’t have enough with me at the time to cover it.”
The guard smirked, “You aren’t like most mist nin.”
“I’m not some flake, you mean.” She let the braid fall.
“Now it is you who sees.”
The runner returned, sliding to a halt. “Hyuuga Hinata… is not within the compound… at the moment.” His breathing was deep and rapid, but didn’t distort his words.
“Then where is she?”
The runner shrugged.
“You could leave the balance here for her.” The guard offered.
Sakura laughed, “Thanks, but no. I’d rather take care of this personally. How do I find her?”
“I can introduce you to Hyuuga Hanabi. She may be able to guide you to Hinata.” The runner chuckled, “Or Hinata will find you shortly.”
Sakura put her hands on her hips, aware of how rounded they had become, “So be it. But be quick about it.”
The runner was gone again in a blur.
“So what do you think about the Hyuuga clan?”
Sakura returned her eyes to the guard, her brow arching in query.
“I would like to invite you into the clan.”
“Aww… How sweet.” Sakura’s tone was school-girly before falling back, “That’s flattering, but keep those eyes to yourself. You’re a little old for my taste.”
The runner returned with Hanabi in tow. The girl was a doppleganger of her older sister.
“You are kind of cute though.” Sakura softened her words, blowing the chunin guard a kiss, “Maybe one of your younger cousins. Let’s go Hanabi!”
Sakura turned, the Hyuuga hot on her heels as she strode down the street.
“Thank you, stranger.” Hanabi came up beside Sakura, jogging to keep up, “They say your name is Naru and that you seek Hinata…”
Sakura nodded, “Yeah. You got any ideas about where she is?”
“Neji came to our home not long ago, perhaps an hour. He gave Hinata a tall stack of papers. They seemed like official documents.” Hanabi put one hand to her temple, her little finger on one eye and her thumb at the corner of her jaw.
“She may be somewhere in the administration district nearby…”
The open eye flashed brightly and Hanabi pointed down the alley, “This way! Hurry!”
Sakura followed as the girl raced down the narrow gorge of urban geography.
A mere hurdle of a fence blocked the end.
Both girls vaulted the obstacle and found a white haired jonin napping on a public bench where they intended to land.
Sakura straightened, throwing her balance back and sticking the landing on the back of the bench.
Hanabi landed rump first on the chest of the man, bouncing to the street.
“What!? Hey! Lea’me alone, eh?” He shot up to sitting, eyes blinking as if confused about what had just happened, his eyes still fogged with sleep. He looked around. “Hey. You guys aren’t anbu.”
“Hey, you were sleeping on a bench.” Sakura replied, stepping off the seat back.
“What’d you jump on me for?”
Hanabi stopped rubbing her bruised bottom, jumping to her feet, “My apologies, sir…”
“Hanabi!” Hinata’s voice rolled across the street loud and clear, “Get away from that man!”
The elder stormed over, knuckling her sibling’s head, “Don’t talk to strangers, Baka!” She looked up, eyes burning, “Especially not old drunkards or underdressed mist trollops.”
“Nice to see you again too, Hinata.” Sakura looked down at herself, “And I’m not underdressed. I like to think of this as and outfit with freedom of motion in mind.”
“Regardless…” Hinata bristled, shoulders rising. She brushed Hanabi behind her, “I don’t believe we have met. Or that we have any business.”
Sakura sighed, “Haruno Naru.” She reached into her vest pocket, “You pelted me with a half eaten fruit.”
Hinata’s scowl was broken instantly as her eyes widened. “YOU!?”
Sakura nodded, “Me.”
“What about her?” The white haired jonin adjusted his headband. The solid horned plate askew.
They all ignored the old nin.
“Why is my sister with you, of all people?” Hinata let Hanabi come under her arm, hugging her sibling to her side.
“She knew where to find you.” Sakura pulled four coins from her pocket, “I owe you this.”
Sakura nearly missed the shift in the featureless eyes. Hinata accepted the coins.
“There’s a snack parlor a short walk from here where we can speak more privately.” Hinata lead the way through the afternoon traffic.