Blind To It Before

Title: Blind To It Before
Rating: R (for now)
Warnings: None yet

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Chapter 4 – Mood Lighting


Domestically, Sakura could hold her own. Having lived in a traditional family, she was well learned in the finer points of housewifery, which included cooking, sewing, and basic care of the opposite sex. Of course, these skills were until now mere thoughts for the future, and she never dreamed she'd be trying to recall anything her mother taught her for the day when she eventually landed a husband. Not that she was even considering getting married to Naruto. Not in the least. In fact, after three days of living with the Kyuubi of Konoha, in all his unpolished glory, she was starting to wonder how ANYONE could stand marrying someone who needed so much attention. Of course in her frustrated state she often forgot he was blind and recovering from a major battle, but this fact was only present in her mind when they were in their respective beds and for once, Naruto wasn't talking or fumbling over things.

It was the fourth night they had spent together and Sakura's eyes were focused on the darkened light fixture above their heads. Earlier that day, Naruto managed to trip over yet another piece of furniture, even thought Sakura could have sworn she moved everything to a non-hazardous state. His plummet to the ground managed to spill a glass of tea into the clean laundry basket she had just placed on the floor before folding. Another load of wash later, she found him once again using a kunai to scratch under the cast, no doubt creating fresh wounds that would get infected within days since they couldn't be properly cleaned. Luckily, the cast was coming off that next day and she could apply some disinfectant then, but she knew what kind of scrapes would probably be waiting for her underneath the plaster as he idly ran the blade between skin and cast.

"Naruto, how many times do I have to tell you not to do that? You get it off tomorrow, you can't hold out one more day?" she scolded, snatching the weapon from his hand. He scowled and muttered the obvious reply of "it itches" and sank deeper into the armchair. She shook her head and turned back to folding the laundry, washed for the second time that day. He was starting to act like a spoiled 6-year-old, pouting and moping around. It was only later that night, when he was peacefully sleeping and not causing trouble, that she realized it was sheer boredom that was causing him to be in such a bratty mood. Knowing his cast came off in the morning caused a light to go off in Sakura's head. She'd raise his spirits by taking him out to the training grounds and getting in a light round of sparring to celebrate getting Naruto back on his feet. Before drifting off to sleep for the night, she made a mental note to prepare a small picnic for the upcoming afternoon.

The next day was thankfully a great one for training; blue skies, a light breeze, and not a sign of rain to be found. It was the perfect type of weather to further invigorate a certain shinobi who had just gotten his cast removed and a doctors clearance to resume training. Naruto bounded through the streets, bumping into passersby, crates, and whatever else happened to be lying in his path on the way home, as a slightly irritated Sakura chased after him. "Naruto! Get back here and walk with me! It's dangerous to be running around like that!"

He turned around as he jogged, grinning at her from ear to ear, "Aw, I know my way home, Sakura-chan...'sides, it feels good to run agai-" His words were cut short by a collision with a nearby fruit cart, sending oranges and melons scattering about the street. He sat up and sniffed the air before fumbling around and picking up a random piece. Sakura ran up and apologized quickly to the cart's owner before starting to help pick up. Naruto, in a rare flash of brilliance, realized what had happened and began to feel around for the scattered fruits. After their task was complete, Sakura grabbed hold of Naruto's hand and tugged him along.

"You're not leaving my side until we get home, got it? No more running into things," she scolded, gripping his hand tighter. This had to have been one of the best forms of punishment he'd ever fallen victim to and tried to hide the smirk on his face as they walked hand in hand back to the apartment. All the while, the chatty housewives of the neighborhood giggled behind their laundry, admiring what a cute couple the two had turned out to be.

Their return to the apartment was brief and with good reason, as Sakura's announcement of their afternoon training session/picnic set Naruto into a hyperactive frenzy of anticipation and restlessness. She had their lunches packed up in a short time and they nearly ran to the old training grounds of team seven. The well worn stumps and straw dummies there were a sad reminder of the time when there used to be four of them standing in that field. Even Naruto could tell that the place had a gloomy atmosphere, despite the warm sunlight that bathed the grounds. Sakura sat their lunches down in the shade of a nearby tree and cleared the tension with a few good kicks to one of the nearby logs. "Ok, Naruto, we'll start with some basic strength practice, nothing accurate, just enough to get your muscles back into the routine, okay?" No sooner were the words out of her mouth and Naruto was busy making fresh dents in the log before her. "How'd you know where to strike?" she questioned, amazed that he was able to connect with such accuracy when he was previously standing at least 20 feet away from his target.

"I heard you kicking it, and figured that was the target, so I just followed the sound and jumped on it," he replied, using a strong kick to launch himself off the log and into the air, only to land with his palms on the ground and allow his feet to connect simultaneously with a loud crack to the old stump.

Sakura shook her head in disbelief, this was the very same kind of sensing she was reading about in the books Tsunade had lent her. Naruto, while being difficult at first, was starting to rehabilitate on his own. He had naturally started to rely on his other senses to compensate for his vision loss, and was apparently doing so rather well. She decided she'd step it up another level, just to see how well he was adjusting. "How about we try some hand-to-hand combat, see how sharp you can still be without your eyes?"

Her tone was almost slightly mocking, a challenge if he ever heard one. Naruto grinned, "All right, but no holding back on me just because I can't see!" He barely finished his sentence before lunging at the sound of her voice and nearly connecting a hit to her shoulder. She dodged to the left, rolling a few feet before getting to her feet behind him and throwing a kick at his side. His hand shot out and grabbed her ankle before it connected, pulling her off balance and sending her head first toward the ground. She hit the ground palms first and held the rest of her body up enough to swing her free leg around and pull his feet out from under him. In a second, they were laying in a tangled heap in the dust, panting and laughing at the same time.

"Not bad for your first time back out," she chided, shoving him off her and brushing the dirt from her clothes. He rolled over and stared blankly up at the sun, scratching his stomach in an unspoken gesture that Sakura had come to identify with his near endless appetite. She pulled herself from the ground and grabbed his arm at the elbow, tugging him to his feet so they could move to the shade and eat lunch.

"This is really nice, Sakura-chan." Naruto managed to get out between bites of food.

"Well, I figured this was a good idea to get you back on your feet after being out of it for so long." She replied, picking some stray rice off his cheek.

"Not just the training, I mean being out here with you. I missed you during my training...and at first, I thought when we got back that you'd miss being a team with Sasuke and all. But I'm really glad it's just you and me today." Naruto. Always so blunt and open, and this time it caused Sakura to blush just a bit. How was it that he could read her so well? She had missed their old training days, could even visualize the time they had Naruto tied to a log as she and Sasuke ate their reward for obtaining a bell from the intimidating Kakashi. But those old memories weren't so important or nearly as painful now that she was sitting there enjoying the day with Naruto. She leaned back against the tree and tried to remember ever feeling so at ease, especially around the orange-clad teammate whose energy and annoyingness seemed to know no bounds. Her mind drifted until his voice snapped her back to reality.

"Sakura-chan, if you're not going to finish that, can I?" he pleaded, chopsticks already making their way to a piece of chicken. She smiled, handing the box over without even bothering to wonder how he knew she didn't eat all of her lunch. Yes, his senses of smell and hearing were definitely making up for the vision loss.