I have no excuses, I just...forgot. To post this. So yeah.

Happy belated new year, everyone, thank you for the wishes 3

Chapter TWELVE

Sakura is given time to wrap up any dealings she had been in the middle of and to make up some reason to decline further talks. She does most of this alone, with only Tomura by her side, and the two of them make quick work of moving around the country, trying to cleanly cut things off and to hold off further talks until some time later.

Most of the bigger organisations know of the Boss's hospitalisation, though no one knows the cause of it, and seem to understand that Sakura has no say in this. The smaller ones that do not know anything, Sakura honestly sees no reason to not cut them off forever while she is at it.

Regardless, she doubts she'll be going back to quasi-legal business anytime soon, with the changes Kai had been making. She has no idea what kind of dealings the Shi Hassaikai dealt with before the rise of quirks but Kai seems all for the illegal stuff.

"Sakura."

She looks up at her name and sees Tomura pointing at a cold sweets stall. Around her crowds of people are bustling around, and many more people are lined up at the various attractions of the amusement park.

Their meeting with the gang in Yamanashi was tomorrow, and Sakura had no qualms with using Kai's card for a day of fun.

"Want shaved ice?" she asks. Tomura still looks a little queasy from the famous rollercoaster of the park, but he nods. Sakura narrows her eyes at the menu.

"Let's share that 'happy-happy mega bucket' thing," she says and holds up Kai's card again.

After spending years surrounded by Sakura and the rest of her men, it is a little strange being just the two of them. Tomura does not mind, of course, because while he had liked the company of his fellow subordinates he does not particularly miss them. Still, now that they are not tightly bound by meeting schedules and deal conducts, Tomura feels like he has all the time in the world.

He knows they will be returning to HQ soon, this time to work directly under Chisaki Kai, but for now, he will allow himself to enjoy the time away from work. Tomura rolls over on the hotel bed he had claimed and watches Sakura triple check the lock on their door. They are currently travelling alone, so instead of making use of Shie Hassaikai's suite rooms they had booked a normal room with Sakura's clone acting as their guardian. "Sakura?"

"Mhm?"

"What do people do?"

Sakura flops down onto her own bed and turns to look at him. "What do you mean?"

Tomura yawns. "I mean, what do people do in their free time? I feel like we have nothing to do now."

Sakura laughs. "True. Our next meeting is tomorrow at noon; maybe we can go out shopping, or something."

"I wanna eat."

"Ramen?"

Sakura and Tomura are in Okayama, having just ended their final planned meeting. It is rather late when they are done and Sakura sends Tomura back ahead of her while she makes a quick detour to a convenience store to buy dinner.

Sakura is walking back to the hotel, bento in hand, when she senses a killer instinct that has her dropping into a crouch before she even notices. A man in a suit appears in a whirl of black smoke and she instantly knows he is not here because he wants to ask her where the bus stop is.

"Can I help you?" she asks calmly.

"I'm looking for Shimura Tenko."

Sakura keeps her expression straight. "Dunno who that is," she says instinctively, even as her mind whirls.

"I am aware you are travelling around with him." The man takes a step towards her. "Are you, too, a part of the Shie Hassaikai?"

So this man knows of Tomura's past and knows of his current affiliations. "You're a stalker," she realises out loud. "I used to know a creepy man who was after a boy more than half his age," she adds.

There is movement behind her and suddenly a great weight slams down onto her back. A gasp is torn from her throat. She thinks back to how the man in front of her had also appeared in a puff of smoke and guesses it is either his quirk or the quirk of an accomplice.

"Where is he?" the man demands.

"I don't hand over boys to creepy men like you," she snaps.

A large hand clamps down onto the back of her head and forces her cheek into the gravel. She feels a crack echo through her body and is sure her shoulder is dislocated.

Why was she being attacked, again? Rage pooled in her stomach.

"He has nothing to do with you," the man says calmly. "He is not family, not someone you owe anything to. Why?"

"Get away from her!"

There is a sudden, additional weight on her back and the thing holding her down lets out a snarl of pain and rears back. She manages to shift her head and sees Tomura get flung away but he manages to land neatly on his feet a little away. His eyes are wide and furious and he looks ready to pounce.

He must have landed hands first on the thing. She cannot see the damage but she can definitely smell it.

The man takes one look at them and concludes that they care for each other. He instantly shifts tactics. "Come here," the man says softly, "and she doesn't get hurt."

The force on the back of her head increases and Sakura grits her teeth. She can see Tomura's fingers twitching, itching to wrap around something and turn it to dust. He does not look worried at all, however, and knows that he trusts she will be fine.

She will be, once she punts the stalker to America because her shoulder fucking hurts.

The man steps towards her. He takes another step, then another, and Sakura can hear him getting closer and closer. Finally, she can see the tip of his black shoes in the corner of his eyes. Tomura takes a forward step of his own, and Sakura lunges.

The thing holding her down is flung aside as she channels chakra to her entire body and twists herself up from beneath it. Tomura is onto it in the next second, ducking beneath its flailing limbs and digging his fingers into its back.

Sakura rams her elbow into the back of the man's knee and grabs the collar of his shirt when he buckles. With a fierce cry, she knees him straight in the face then hurls him into the closest wall. He slams straight through the concrete and creates a crater shaped after himself in the wall on the far side of the building. Sakura body-flickers after him and slams him back, hard enough to create additional cracks.

"What do you want with him," she asks through gritted teeth. She channels chakra to her face, repairing the scrapes on her cheek.

"You are just like him," the man murmurs.

"What?" Was he after several boys at the same time?

A hand flashes up, faster than she had expected, and grabs her wrist. Sakura feels her eyes widen a little when he begins to apply force and, thinking quickly, pulls sharply, resetting her shoulder.

A quirk, probably.

She strengthens her bones with chakra, lest he actually manages to snap them, and slams her fist into his face. "Why are you after him?" she asks again.

The man, however, is no longer listening to her at all. She raises her arms to block the kick that comes her way, the force of it sending her skidding backwards, and she looks up just in time to see black smoke appear out of nowhere. It envelops him and swirls in mid-air before vanishing, taking him with it.

"Sakura!" Tomura rushes up behind her, a hand instantly going to where the thing had grabbed her before fingers urgently trace the scrape marks on her cheeks. "Are you okay?"

Sakura nods slowly. She fully heals the injuries, more to appease Tomura than because they actually require it. "I'm okay," she says. "You?"

Tomura smirks. "I'm fine," he brushes her off. "Can't say the same for that thing over there. What is it anyway?" He narrows his eyes. "What did that man want?"

Sakura shoots one last look at where the man had vanished. "I think he has a crush on you."

Tomura makes a face. " What? "

Sakura grins and pats the teen on the head. "Don't worry," she says. "I'm not handing you over to him."

She then turns to inspect Tomura's handiwork. As he says, it looks like it had seen better days. It is mostly in pieces, courtesy of Tomura's quirk, and even as Sakura steps closer to inspect it as it continues to crumble. "Is that a brain?" she murmurs.

"Looks like it," Tomura replies dismissively.

"Gross."

Two months after Kai claims the position of Boss, Sakura and Tomura return to HQ permanently. Kai immediately names her an Executive and Sakura names Tomura her personal secretary/bodyguard, if only to give him a role within the Yakuza. She is yet to attend a single meeting and knows that many will be sceptical of her, especially because she was never around when the previous Boss had been around.

Still, Sakura is confident she can prove her worth when she needs to and Kai is letting her run around freely for the time being. Also, she is happy to stick around HQ for a little, with Tomura's stalker still out there. So, she puts that particular thought to the side and decides to face her current predicament first.

She gives Tomura a day off because he had been dragged left and right attempting to keep up with her as she ran around the country and he definitely deserves it. She leaves him to his games as she steps out of their quarters and heads towards her assigned station.

When Sakura enters the infirmary, it is empty. That is good, she supposes, because that means that no one is injured. On the other hand, however, she had hoped to find people around so that she could sort out any shallow feelings of pettiness and mistrust for her age before a medical emergency that required everyone's cooperation came around.

She hopes that Kai's influence is as strong as he seemed to think.

Sakura spends the morning looking around the small facility, memorising the location of the drugs and medical tools, checking the stocks, and noting down the arrival of new supplies.

Once she is done, and she will admit she had taken twice the time it would have usually taken her, she makes her way through a side door in the infirmary and enters a well-guarded area of the HQ. The corridor soon opens up into what looks like a control room. The entirety of one wall is glass, and she spies a young girl on the other side she immediately knows is Eri.

There are at least two men standing by the doorway into the girl's room and she moves over towards them. They immediately raise their weapons as she approaches and looks at her suspiciously.

Sakura eyes the machine on the side of the door, with a handprint reader positioned above a passcode keyboard. "Can you open that for me, or do I have to do it myself?"

They obviously know who she is, because how many teenage girls with pink hair run around in the Yakuza? but they are clearly choosing to ignore the fact.

"You shouldn't be here, girly,' one of them says and pokes her with the end of his gun. She eyes the thing and when the man does not remove it, she grabs it and yanks it away from her person.

"Do not touch me," she hisses. Running chakra to her hands, she easily bends the metal in her grasp. Then, before the other man can point his own gun at her, she sneers "Kai gave me permission to be here." The men shuffle nervously at the mention of his real name and Sakura pushes further. "Would you rather I call him to confirm this?" she asks.

"If you're authorised, you should be able to enter on your own," one of the guards finally declares.

Sakura rolls her eyes, then glances through the glass again, to where Eri is half-heartedly stacking wooden blocks on top of one other.

The files she had read over earlier had noted her age to be four. Sakura pointedly plants her hand on her scanner, remembering Kai ordering her to place her palm on a bunch of different machines and tosses her hair in triumph when the door slides open. She stalks into the room, head held high, completely ignoring the glaring guards at the door.

Eri had frozen at the sound of metal sliding to the side and she stares up at her with wide, wide eyes. It has been a while since she had last dealt with a child, Sakura realises. The last real interaction would have been with a young Tomura, and he had been much older than the girl before her.

Channel your Inner Naruto.

Sakura tries for a smile as she slowly, deliberately, approaches the girl. She had dealt with children in the hospital of Konoha before.

"Hi. You must be Eri?"

The girl nods once, stiffly.

"I'm Sakura. I'll be looking after you from now on."

Sakura's eyes roam over the girl's form, making mental notes of her appearance. She looked like she weighed a little below the average of her age group, which honestly Sakura is not surprised about. Blood should not be drained from a girl so young to begin with, and she highly doubts Kai, or anyone else in his near vicinity, for that matter, had the knowledge to go through the process properly.

"I think it's lunchtime for you soon, right? Let's change up your menu a little bit; the canteen food is nasty." As far as the records had told her, Eri had been fed whatever had been available in the kitchens at the time. The girl looked healthy enough for the moment, but she is a growing child nonetheless. "I'll have a friend bring over something better, okay? We can eat together."

Eri does not say anything, but she does nod. Sakura has a feeling that it is because she is overwhelmed, more than because she understands and agrees. She notes the way her fingers are clenched into her clothes and does not find anything strange with how nervous, even scared, the girl is. She stomps away such thoughts for the time being and keeps a smile on her face as she whips out her phone. Tomura picks up on the first ring.

"Hi. Are you busy right now?"

She hears shuffling on the other side before the boy's voice comes clear through the speakers. "No. Do you need something?"

Sakura refrains from nodding, a habit she had been trying to break for a while. "Can you bring over fortified cereal? Maybe something with dried fruits or seeds. And takeout for two. Three, if you haven't eaten yet. Also, maybe some doughnuts."

Tomura does not even question her strange request. "Sure. Now?"

"Yeah. I'm over at the labs in HQ-" she thinks, "-actually, just bring it back to our room. I'll come back."

"I'll change and head out. Be back in a sec."

"Thanks."

She cuts the call and turns back to Eri with a smile. The girl is still young. Old enough to know to fear of strangers, but also young enough that a hint of kindness in her world of pain will be enough to get her to open up. "Let's get you out of here hm?" she says. "We can watch a movie in my room."

Eri nods again, shily, perhaps a little hopeful, and Sakura holds out her hand to help when she scrambles to her feet. "Do you want to watch anything in particular?" she asks, more to continue talking than to actually gauge the girl's interest.

The guards are glaring at her again and Sakura sighs, knowing they will be against her no matter what she plans to do.

She selects a number on her contact list with her free hand but does not press the dial button just yet. She has Eri wait a little behind her as she signals for the door to be opened. The guards, of course, attempt to stop her. "What do you think you're doing?" The guy with the unbroken gun threateningly raises it and Sakura actually rolls her eyes. She holds up her phone, screen facing the guards, and presses the dial button before turning on the speaker setting. Kai picks up on the third ring. "What?"

"I'm with Eri right now," she says, loudly enough to be heard by the guards but quietly enough that Eri cannot hear. "I have no idea why you think shoving a few building blocks into a massive room is suited for a child, so I'm taking her back to my room. Tomura's getting us something nice to eat, none of that slop from the canteen, and we're going to watch a nice movie. Tell your boys to stop shoving their pointy sticks in my face before I make them eat them, sharp end first."

"Guns, Sakura," Kai says. He sounds a little tired and Sakura thinks of all the background paperwork that usually comes with running a large community. She guesses that applies to criminal organisations as well.

"Same difference," she retorts. "It'll hurt just as bad when I stuff it down someone's throat." She sighs. "You said everything," she reminds him. "I'm the medic here. I can give you my verdict here if you want?" She does not let him reply.

"She is underweight, and even if we ignore the fact that blood shouldn't be drawn from such a young child, she's not being fed properly. Since her body produces whatever it is you need in your drugs and the blood is just the easiest way to extract it, I'm concluding that what matters really is not the amount of blood, but the quality of it. Food's an important part of it, but it's honestly not only that.

"Have you considered that maybe emotional stress will badly affect the effects of her quirk? It's a proven fact that the setting a chicken is grown in changes its value and taste when it's being sold because a bad environment leads to stress-"

Kai cuts her off with a sigh. "I get it," he says, and Sakura realises that he must be really tired. That, and perhaps he trusts her more than he likes to think. "Don't let her run off somewhere." He cuts the call before she can reply.

Sakura smiles, pockets her phone, then smiles pleasantly up at the men in front of her. "So, yeah, I guess you boys can run off and do whatever it is you do whenever you're not standing around here." She calls Eri over and takes her hand again. "Let's go, Eri, the doughnuts await!"

Three weeks have passed since Eri was first introduced to Sakura, and Eri feels as though her life is just so much better. She misses her parents. She misses her life before fear had become a daily part of it, but it has been a while, she feels, since she could go to sleep at night not hurting and wake up in the morning not dreading the rest of the day.

Sakura's hands do not hurt. She is kind and gentle and it is fun being in her room. Tomura plays with her and introduces her to new games. She gets to make requests as to what she wants to eat and is allowed to pick the clothes she wants to wear.

Overhaul does not come in on some of his bad days to make her hurt and Eri can forget about him, almost.

One day, they are watching a movie on the television, when there is a knock on the door. Sakura does not call an 'enter' like she usually does and the visitor does not wait for her invitation like they usually do. Eri looks over curiously and feels her stomach drop and her throat clamp up when she meets Overhaul's gold orbs staring right at her.

Sakura looks up too and she lets out a loud groan. "You know, one of the main things I don't like about living in HQ?" She leans over the couch and grabs another apple slice. "Every time you have a stupid job for me I have to see your face."

Eri digs her nails into her palms, trying to calm her breathing, as Overhaul glares at Sakura.

Sakura could defend herself, right? Why was she antagonising Overhaul like that? What if he attacked her?

She feels a gloved hand land on her own and looks up. Tomura is not looking at her, eyes fixed on the television screen, but he squeezes her fingers reassuringly, as though he were saying 'it's okay'. In fact, Tomura did not look worried at all. He had not given Overhaul a glance beyond the lookover he had given the man when he had first entered the room.

Overhaul sighs. "You look like you're making yourselves at home," he finally says and looks pointedly around the many snacks stacked up on various shelves and cupboards.

Sakura shrugs. "If you ask nicely, you can have a doughnut," she says and gestures at the open box sitting on the table by the couch.

Overhaul makes a face. "I don't want one."

Sakura shrugs again. "Suit yourself." She wipes the apple juice on a tissue and turns to him. "What do you want?"

Overhaul glances over at her and Eri realises that he had not thought she would be here. Maybe he had forgotten that she spent her time with Sakura now. She swallows nervously and looks away because the man scares her.

"She's been dealing with your scary mug for a while now," Sakura says, apparently realising the same thing. "Just spit it out."

Overhaul sighs and Eri looks up again to see the man roll his eyes. It is a little strange because around Sakura Overhaul looks less like the intimidating Boss who gave orders to hurt her Eri had always thought him to be. "There's a meeting tonight. Make sure you're there. Boss's orders."

Sakura frowns. "You came all the way to tell me that?"

"You had your phone switched off."

Sakura reaches into her pocket and frowns at her phone. "Oh. Out of battery, maybe."

Overhaul rolls his eyes again. "Make sure you're there," he repeats. He makes a face at the movie they are watching. "Shit taste," he says, then he is gone.

Tomura takes Sakura's phone from her and plugs it into its charger, then the two of them turn back to the television like nothing had happened. Eri tries, but she finds herself no longer focusing on the screen.

"You okay?" Sakura asks gently, and Eri snuggles into the girl's side.

"Does he not scare you?" she asks.

Sakura considers her for a while. "Nah. I grew up with him." She smiles. "If he tries anything I'll smack him through a wall."

"He hurts me," she whispers.

"I know." Eri feels gentle hands run through her hair. "I won't let him hurt you anymore."

Later that day, Sakura finds herself seated at her first-ever Executive meeting. Her seat is right next to Kai, she realises, and she scoffs at the glares she receives.

If anyone wanted to trade their seat at the other end of the room with hers, she would happily accept.

The first half of the meeting covers deals and finances and Sakura tunes it all out because it has nothing to do with her. Finally, Kai kicks her chair to catch her attention.

"A few groups are still refusing to enter an alliance with us," Kai says. "The deadline is near and I doubt they will change their minds. We'll wait until the deadline, however, because that is the agreement, and once that's passed we'll head out to crush them."

Sakura is sure Kai's idea of an alliance is absolute servitude to him, but she does not say this like she might have had it been just her and Kai alone. He assigns a couple of Executives to some organisation or another and finally turns to her.

"Sakura, I'm assigning you to that group over in Shimane."

Sakura nods. "Understood," she says and makes a mental note to ask Kai for the details later because she had not been paying attention. Regardless, Kai seems almost pleased with her compliance.

Someone raises a hand. "Excuse me," he says, and he continues only when Kai gives him permission to speak with a nod. "I was unaware that she-" he gestures towards her with his head like he does not quite know what to make of her "-was assigned a faction."

"That's because she wasn't," Kai says dismissively.

Murmurs rise from the rest of the Executives.

Kai turns to her again. "Do you need men?" he asks.

Sakura shakes her head. "Nah." No longer having to deal with difficult customers, it has been a while since she had dealt with people that would most likely attack them than agree to talk it out. Still, it sends a tingle of excitement through her. "Just, pay for the travel expenses. And a hotel. And food. High-quality stuff, please."

1) We get Eri here. Part of me thought she got attached to Sakura a little too fast but Eri here is four. She is hurt and scared and latched onto the first person who showed her kindness for the first time in a while. It made sense in my head. If you heavily disagree, my offer to write apology letters (mentioned in the previous chapter) still stands.

2) Sorry for the delay, I forgot to post cause assignments. I finished a report, an essay, and a presentation. I have two reports and a portfolio left to hand in. Then the holidays can begin for real :D (I WROTE THIS LIKE A MONTH AGO AAAAA MY HOLIDAYS ARE ALMOST OVER I JUST FORGOT TO POST)

3) My part-time boss is an asshole and if he dies I will be happy.

4) Sasuke's chapter is being worked on right now. We skim over Sakura n Tomura vs AFO n Nomu from AFO's point of view. I.e. we get to read him get wrecked from his point of view. Not gonna lie I do feel bad for the man, he has all these grand plans and he doesn't even know that his biggest pawn legit shares one brain cell with a Hero-in-training and the pink-haired Yakuza girl who smacked him through walls. Gotta feel for him /

5) In fact, gotta feel for all of the characters surrounding Sakura and Sasuke; at least Naruto's intentions align with the people he's with. Sasuke's probably forgotten/flunked out of at least a dozen tasks handed to him (AFO had someone else deal with the Aomori gangs a while back) and Sakura uses Kai's credit card to buy stuff because a part of her still doesn't understand how it works. She's one of the people who go into debt using their card cause she doesn't realise.

6) FF7 Remake on PC! Why Epic tho =.=

7) THANK YOU FOR ALL THE NEW YEARS WISHES, HAPPY VERY LATE NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL LOVELY HUMANS.

8) Thank you for your support!