Smerup100: Aw, thanks! And you're totally welcome! I'm glad you're enjoying it. :)
DellaLothely: Aw, thank you! And I'm glad that you like fanfictions like mine; I love them, too. Thank you for reading and everything else. And no worries - your English isn't all that bad. :)
Midnightdreams33: Thanks! :D
AnimeNerd667: You got it! ;)

Welcome back, everyone!

It's the second official chapter of Spring, and now we get into the exciting part - where Sakura-chan starts to get stronger. We also get to meet some members of the Haruno clan - all of whom I love so much.

At the end of the chapter, I'll give you some extra information on the Haruno clan member OCs, so keep your eyes peeled! :D

Disclaimer: I, thestrengthofacherryblossom, do not own Naruto or any of the characters from it; that all belongs to Kishimoto. However, I do own my changes to the plot (the ones you don't recognize from other fanfiction - probably), and I especially own the Haruno clan and all of the OCs in it.

Warning(s): AU, AU, AU! If you prefer canon (though I can't see why you would, since, most likely, if you're reading this, you aren't happy with the way Sakura was treated in canon - like me), this is not the story for you.

Spring

Chapter 2

"When captured birds grow wiser,
they try to open the cage with their beaks.
They don't give up,
because they want to fly again."

-Genma Shiranui, Naruto

Sakura wanders the library, walking each aisle and running her index finger down the spines of the books and scrolls piled on to the shelves. It's comforting to her, to be surrounded by all of the books and scrolls; even though she can only wander the genin and civilian sections, there is something so fulfilling about being a paper-ninja in a room piled to the ceilings with books and scrolls.

She remembers who she was before Ino. Pre-Ino Sakura was always surrounded by books; her inborn shyness and fear of being bullied for one reason or another made her introverted and a loner by necessity. Books and scrolls were her only friends, but even after Ino, she's still retained the ability to devour a whole pile of scrolls and books in a matter of a few hours.

She's in her element now.

She eyes the chūnin section speculatively, but, feeling the jōnin manning the desk up front watching her closely, she decides against going for it. The higher-level reading material isn't worth the trouble she'll get into for trying to get it, she thinks, and Inner agrees. So she turns back to the shelf in front of her.

She already has a few scrolls and books tucked under her arm - materials on a mix of genjutsu and medical ninjutsu. Already, in the times she'd come here before now, she's read every scroll and book available to genin on chakra and chakra control; she's begun to work on pushing chakra into her blows to reinforce them, but with no one to really practice with, she hasn't been able to get very far. It's the same with genjutsu - both area-effect and internal-effect; without a sparring partner, she has no idea if she's doing it right or not.

As for medical ninjutsu, well, she knows she has to go to the hospital and ask to be apprenticed to be a nurse there to truly master medical ninjutsu to the extent she wants to (someday, she'll stand with Naruto and Sasuke-kun, but even before then, she will help them pick themselves back up and heal all of their wounds), but she's been putting it off; she doesn't want to solely be a medical-ninja - she doesn't want to be confined to the hospital 24/7. Sure, she wants to help people and she wants to be able to heal Naruto and Sasuke-kun, but she wants to be more than a passive medic-nin - hence the other areas of study. Another reason is that she knows vaguely of a member or two of the Haruno clan who are medic-nin, and she would rather ask one of them (even then, she feels a bit awkward and shy just thinking about showing up on someone's doorstep and asking them to train her).

So Sakura grabs one more scroll from the shelf before her, one on internal-effect genjutsu, before returning to the table she's already piled high with scrolls and books. She sits and, choosing the most promising looking from her mountainous pile of information, gets down to business and starts studying, settling in for the long haul.

.,.

Hanako leaps from roof to roof, nodding a greeting to each fellow shinobi she passes as she goes; most are too busy - or too rude and/or too lazy (*cough*Hatake*cough*) - to respond, but a select few return the gesture, some wave to her and some shoot her a smile - especially the ones she knows personally (outside of missions, that is). When she passes by Genma, Iwashi, and Raidō, she awards the trio a brilliant smile and vocalizes a greeting.

Out of all of the Konoha-shinobi she has met as a result of Ren-sama's orders to stay in the Haruno clan compound within the village, she likes those three the best (and Hatake the worst, but that's a story for another time). Iwashi and Raidō's bickering is so incredibly entertaining, and the frequency of their childish mock-fights devolving into full-on spars is just another plus; they never get too into the fighting, despite how much they disagree and argue, never drawing blood and rarely bruising - just exchanging a flurry of mock-blows that's utterly entertaining to watch. Genma, though, is her favorite of all - his off-hand snarky, sarcastic quips never fail to make her crack up, and his quirked grin always makes her heart skip a beat.

Iwashi and Raidō grin at Hanako and give her twin, cheery "Hello!"s as they pass her, heading for the Hokage's office, but Genma leaps to her side and joins her on her trip to the library.

"Hey," the tokubetsu jōnin says, shooting her a sideways smile she returns.

"Hey," Hanako replies, pushing an extra bit of chakra to her muscles to help her make the next series of jumps. "How was your mission?"

Genma snorts, still chewing on his senbon, and he shoots an amused look at her. "Long," he says as way of reply, returning his focus forward, "and boring. The borders are dead as always."

Hanako chuckles. "It's mostly a formality," she says as she jumps down from the roof, "but what if something did happen and no one was there?"

Genma huffs, jamming his hands in his pockets as he walks beside her down the tightly packed, narrow streets. Most everyone's bumping elbows with one another, but the civilians afford the duo as much room as they possibly can - recognizing them as some of their faceless, nameless protectors.

"I know, Hanako; I know," Genma groans, and the light-haired kunoichi jabs her elbow into his ribs; the tokubetsu jōnin doesn't bother to dodge the blow and, instead, gives a good-natured grunt upon impact, awarding his companion a mischievous grin. "You don't need to keep nagging me, Ugly."

Letting loose an outraged shriek that serves as a battle-cry, Hanako swings at him. He catches the blow, though, and bumps shoulders with her. She smiles.

"So what are you doing?" Genma asks suddenly, looking around.

"Heading to the library," she replies without looking at him. "Fu had a scroll he wanted me to pick up for him - plus Ai sent me a message saying there's something of interest at the library." She shrugs. "I figured I might as well check it out since I'm headed there anyway."

He blinks and nods in understanding, looking fairly thoughtful as they continue to approach the library now visibly looming over the streets. After a moment of silence, he speaks again: "What do you think it is?"

She shrugs again. "Not sure," she admits, "but I'm fairly certain it could be anything - Ai isn't exactly discreet about her . . . less than savory interests. So, like I said, it could be anything - from a scroll she found on taijutsu to the signs that somebody's fucked somewhere in the library."

Genma snorts, and Hanako grins.

"All I'm saying is that I have no idea what to expect," she finishes, shrugging one last time. "Ai is a little . . ." She twirls her finger around her ear, and he laughs.

"You have a point," he says, giving her another mischievous grin with his eyebrows quirked, and when she giggles, he looks vaguely pleased at his ability to make her laugh.

He jogs ahead of her at a civilian pace and opens the library door for her - like a true gentleman.

She arches an eyebrow, and his grin grows.

"Milady," he says, sliding into a low bow and sweeping his arm in a gesture meant to indicate tat she should enter, and she snorts.

"As always, Genma, your manner are impeccable,: she says and sidles forward to whisper her next words in his ear, "but tell me this: where is your 'supposed' . . . lady? I can't seem to find her."

Genma shivers at the feeling of her warm breath tickling his skin pleasantly with its moist heat, but just as he's about to do something about her Kami-damned teasing when a blur of strawberry blonde and pink and white rushes out, grabs Hanako, and rushes back inside.

A shout of "Come on, silly!" hangs in the air, even after the two have disappeared, and he groans, sliding his hand down his face.

After a moment of silent debate, he walks inside, allowing the door to slide shut behind him. He's not going to force Hanako to deal with her crazy cousin by herself.

:

Hanako grimaces as her hyperactive cousin umps around, chattering about some inane topic; Ai has always been overexcited and unnecessarily cheerful - maybe she was dropped on her head as a baby.

Hanako entertains theories on the strawberry blonde's behavior and its source as the girl continues to ramble mindlessly.

"Isn't she half-Uchiha?" Genma's voice whispers from behind her, and the minuscule tightness in her shoulders dissipates.

Relaxing back into him, she shoots him a look. "She is," she says slowly, "though her father and two half-brothers were infamous for being the very few cheerful, talkative Uchiha."

He nods and drags his hand up and down her upper arm. "Do you think she was dropped on her head as a child?" he asks, deliberately pitching his voice low enough to turn it husky and flirtatious.

She shivers at both the sound of his voice and the feeling of his warm breath dragging across her sensitive skin, but she forces her voice to remain steady. "Probably," she says, shrugging. And, immediately, she regrets it; his skin drags against hers and lights a fire across her nerves. She lets out a shaking gasp, and she can almost feel Genma's smug pleasure.

Luckily (or not, considering how she revels in his touch), her strangled breath draws Ai's attention, and the half-Haruno, half-Uchiha kunoichi bounces over.

She shoots Hanako a meaningful and slightly triumphant look but says nothing, grabbing the sleeves of her indigo shirt and tugging her forward. "Come on, come on!" she cheers, bouncing slightly.

Hanako allows her cousin to pull her along, ignoring the way she can feel the heat of Genma's gaze lingering on her back - threatening to scald her and/or set her aflame. "What is it, Ai?" she asks and curses her voice for shaking slightly.

"Look!" Ai hisses, surprisingly serious for once, and Hanako follows her pointing index finger to see what seems undeserving of her cousin's interest.

Ai is pointing to a young girl, looking about 12 or 13, with short pink hair. Pink hair, a bright shade that's almost impossible t hide and doesn't camouflage with anything - except for, perhaps, cherry blossoms in bloom. She's small, with barely any muscle definition in her arms and shoulders hat are bared by her red and white qipao-style kimono, and rather physically unimpressive, but she has a pile of scrolls and books crowding her tiny form that intrigues Hanako.

'Whatever it is that pinky's studying, she's really into it.'

Still, Hanako isn't sure what about the tiny pinkette has attracted Ai's attention to this degree.

"That pile of scrolls," Ai says, displaying her surprising prowess at reading people - especially Hanako, "it's her fourth pile today."

Hanako whistles lowly, Genma echoing the sentiment - he's joined them by now, having finally sort through his issues.

"That's quite the devotion to reading," the pure-blood Haruno kunoichi remarks, and Genma smirks.

"Even Ebisu couldn't pull off something like that," he says, dodging Hanako's attempts to jab him in the side. "Even when he was in his bookish nerd prime." He ducks, barely managing to dodge another blow from the kunoichi by his side.

Ai barely pays attention to the two's mock-battle, instead focusing her deep indigo eyes on the studying pink-haired tween. "That's not it," she says, and Hanako and Genma freeze in the middle of their mock-spar at her deeply serious tone; her happy-go-lucky cheer that's earned her the nickname 'Sunshine' has completely disappeared, replaced with a menacing, icy seriousness that doesn't bode well. "She's Mebuki's."

Genma doesn't understand the monumental meaning behind the words, but Hanako does and releases a hissing outtake of breath that heralds the inevitable loss of her composure.

"The same Mebuki I'm thinking of? Kizashi's wife?" she asks through gritted teeth, and Ai gives a curt, jerky nod. Hanako hisses again.

Genma blinks. "What is it? Who is Mebuki?" he asks, glancing mostly between the two Haruno kunoichi but also shooting appraising glances at the pink-haired girl they've been discussing. She's halfway through a monstrously thick book, and if he's not wrong, it's a medical textbook that most nurses at the hospital would struggle through. But this pink-haired preteen girl is devouring it and, from the look of it, enjoying it, too.

Hanako turns to look at him. "Mebuki is a Haruno civilian," she explains. "She's my half-sister, the kid of my mother - Kita Haruno - and some Rain-nin she had a one-night stand with while on a mission."

"She married Kizashi," Ai adds, her face still twisted into an expression of intense dislike, "Kizashi of the Yamamoto clan. He was a pretty impressive shinobi, but he gave it all up for Mebuki. She forced him to retire and become a civilian merchant instead."

Genma blinks again.

"She hates shinobi," Hanako declares, crossing her arms across her chest. Her expression mirrors Ai's - deep dislike that borders on loathing - but there is an element of pain, of an old hurt that's not yet healed, in her pale blue eyes that Ai doesn't share.

He wonders silently if Mebuki's hatred of shinobi has ever led to her lashing out at Hanako for her career choice, but then a realization dawns on him. "But isn't the Haruno clan a clan of shinobi?" he asks, his brows rising.

Both Hanako and Ai nod, and he huffs out a laugh.

"That seems like a rather doomed mental standpoint," he remarks, and though both kunoichi nods in agreement, Hanako's frown deepens.

"Mebuki's cut all ties with the clan," the dirty blonde continues. "She changed her last name to Yamamoto after she married Kizashi." Once she's said that, she hurries over to her cousin. "Is she that one or . . .?" she trails off when Ai nods.

"Yup, she's the one," she replies, and Hanako sighs heavily.

Genma is about to ask when she turns back to him. "Clan business," she says curtly, answering his unasked question and forbidding further questioning all in one. Then she walks off, towards the pink-haired girl. "I'm going to talk to her," she calls over her shoulder, and that's that.

Ai sighs, shaking her head - though there's a degree of fondness to her exasperation that shines through in her smile. "Same old Hanako," she says, and Genma nods in agreement.

Ten the strawberry blonde's seriousness dissipates, and her ditzy persona returns.

"You want to try to catch Tora with dango with me!?"

He shakes his head in disbelief and walks away.

.,.

Though she's still absorbed in reading her most current book on medical ninjutsu, Sakura can feel the presence of someone approaching her.

Whoever it is, they're making some effort to hide their presence - not much, only enough that a high-level genin or a low-level chūnin would struggle to detect. If it weren't for her practice and experiments in replicating the Mind's Eye of Kaguya Technique she'd read about, she wouldn't even have noticed the person's presence.

It's for that reason that she doesn't flinch when an unfamiliar voice sounds from slightly in front of her, saying, "Whatcha doing?"

"Reading" Sakura replies, not looking up from the book on the Mystical Palm Technique she's studying; she's almost got the technique figured out - she just needs a bit more.

"You want to be a medic?" the voice asks, sounding slightly incredulous, and Sakura forces herself to look up from her book, figuring she's being rude.

The stranger who approached her is pretty - very pretty. Her hair, a pale shade of blonde like sun-bleached wheat, falls in loose wavy curls to her mid-back - the length almost exactly the length Sakura's used to be, before she cut it. Her ice-blue eyes, set into her pale and heart-shaped face with high cheekbones and full lips, sparkle with a friendly but mischievous light that leaves Sakura slightly wary.

She's clearly a kunoichi; she wears a black forehead protector tied around her forehead, the symbol of their village proudly displayed for all to see. She also wears a tight, black sleeveless top that clings to her and accentuates her developed muscles; a pair of blue, standard-issue pants; and a pair of black, shin-high boots. But the part of her outfit that gives Sakura pause is the white circle the kunoichi wears emblazoned on her clothing - the Haruno circle. The woman isn't just a kunoichi; she's a kunoichi from the Haruno clan.

Flushing when she realizes she's been staring, Sakura glances back down at the open book sitting in front of her. "Yes . . . and no," she says hesitantly, playing with the edge of the page she was reading previously, and she feels the woman's eyes on her still. She sighs. "I don't want to just be a medic - I want to fight, too; I want to be able to fight and heal."

"That's admirable," the woman says, her voice ringing with sincerity and truth, and she sits in the chair opposite Sakura. "Do you want any help? I'm a combat med-nin, actually - my mentor was taught by Lady Tsunade. I'd be happy to help if you want."

Sakura looks up so fast her neck cracks and her hair slaps her in the face.

.,.

The pinkette is intriguing to Hanako; she's shy and hesitant about her dreams - which is only to be expected, considering the woman who raised her. But what's truly interesting about the girl is the sheer drive and strength of will she displays, set into the downturn of her mouth, the minuscule crease of her eyebrows, the recesses of her spring-green eyes.

The girl reminds Hanako of Tsunade in this way - in her sheer determination, the stubborn set of her mouth, the glow of potential in her eyes; she could be the next Tsunade and revolutionize both medicine and the battlefield. And Hanako has a sudden vision of the pinkette standing proudly, overlooking the village - determination burning in her steadfast expression and a violet Yin Seal glowing on her brow; she sees the girl as a woman, as a warrior with developed muscles and wisdom shining and the strength and willpower to tilt the world on its axis. Hanako is both startled and stunned by the sheer need she feels to get the pinkette there, to help her achieve her dreams, to be there, to help her achieve her dreams, to be there when she needs someone; Hanako wants to make up for the cruelty of her sister and the failures of the girl's mother - she wants to be family.

So she offers to teach the girl, to be her mentor, and when the pinkette looks up at her so fast she must get whiplash, with a raw and strained hope - the look of someone who is scared of being hopeful because they've been kicked when hey were down one too many times - Hanako swears on her Way of the Flower that she will make the girl strong enough to knock the sun out of the sky and stay beside her every step of the way.

'Someday,' she thinks, 'she will become the woman I saw, I'll make sure of it.'

Hanako Haruno: A pureblood Haruno kunoichi who works at the hospital whenever she's not on missions; has a sort-of relationship with Genma Shiranui; mother: Kita Haruno; father: unknown; has one half-sister: Mebuki Yamamoto. Blonde, blue eyes, 5'5".

Ai Haruno: A half Haruno, half Uchiha kunoichi who known for pretending to be an idiotic, ditzy blonde despite being quite smart and an excellent shinobi; genjutsu-master; is dating Fu Haruno; mother: Kigiku Haruno; father: Akio Uchiha; 2 brothers who are full-blood Uchiha: Shisui and Obito Uchiha. Strawberry blonde, brown eyes, 5'1".

And done!

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Sorry it took so long, but I've gotta go.

Ja ne!

~thestrengthofacherryblossom