Naruto: Blind

Pausing to listen for a moment, he could barely catch the sound of quietly running water. Sasuke grumbled in slight impatience; Sakura was still in the shower. Ever since she had mentioned yesterday that they would be starting working on basic taijutsu training that day, he had been anticipating it. Practicing ninjutsu was all well and good, but a ninja could not implement those skills effectively in a fight without having his taijutsu available to get him out of a tight spot if need be. However, training couldn't begin if they still had breakfast to be made and eaten.

He turned to face the fridge; he didn't trust himself enough to attempt making the tea, but he knew that there was left over steamed rice from dinner, and maybe he could make rice balls. After living alone for half his life, rice balls were one of the few things that he could make. He had made so many of them that even when he was twelve he would have sworn he could have made them with his eyes shut. Well, he'd soon find out if he could.

After a few minutes of opening various containers in the fridge, he finally found a square tupperware container that contained the rice. In his raiding of the refrigerator, he had also come across some seaweed she had put in as well. He put the other foods back in the fridge as neatly as he could and carried both the rice and seaweed over to the counter. Another few minutes of searching around the various drawers allowed him to procure a roll of plastic wrap, which he took a square off. The puzzles and object recognition that Sakura had put him through was indeed helping him now as he put a handful's worth of rice in the plastic wrap, salting it a little with salt from the little dish Sakura had brought in from their first object recognition exercise.

Sasuke shaped the rice carefully into triangular shape and once satisfied, he wrapped it with some of the seaweed he had found. Setting the first completed snack down on the large plate he had pulled from the cover, he started to work on the second. He set the sixth and final rice final plate as he heard the water from the shower turn off in the bathroom. Sakura would be out soon. Stacking the smaller plates, and balancing the platter of rice balls, he slowly walked over to the table, knowing that if he fell, then that would be set back as they would waste time cleaning up instead of training. He made it to the table without incident however and put out a plate for him and Sakura, the platter of rice balls in the center of the table.

The second round from the counter to the table resulted in the tea mugs to be set up next to his and Sakura's plates. The bathroom door creaked open in the distance, and that brought to his mind that Sakura would probably want to have something more to eat than rice balls. Becoming a medical ninja had brought to her attention the importance of eating a balanced meal. As long as Sasuke didn't have to work out which food groups and the like for each meal, it didn't bother him.

The footfalls came quietly to the kitchen entryway as he was closing the container of rice. She had paused in surprise and had not moved from her position, presumably at a loss for words. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he walked over to the fridge, opening the door and sliding the box in where he had left room for it.

"You made onigiri," she said after a moment, sounding a little baffled.

"Aa," he replied, closing the door to the fridge, feeling somewhat proud of himself. Sitting down at the table, he waited politely for her, "I didn't make any tea. Or anything to go with them."

"Oh…well—I can do that," she said after a pause, still sounding completely thrown off, but hurried into the kitchen nonetheless.

"There may be rice on the counter," he added as she moved about the small room.

On top of tea, Sakura ended up making a quick vegetable tray, which contained some very iron-laced lettuce. Not that Sasuke minded at all, he had always preferred the white part of the lettuce more; something that many people failed to understand. Sakura had complimented the rice balls he had made, but in return he only gave a shrug. Personally,
after having years of practice, he thought they weren't nearly as good as some he had made in the past.

"You can have the last one," he told her, having kept count of how many had disappeared from the plate each time he took another.

"Thanks," she replied, and he heard her reach for it.

"When are we going to train?" he asked her in a straightforward manner. The question would have sounded outright rude if he had asked it to anyone but Sakura; she was used to his behaviour, and knew that he hadn't meant the question impolitely.

"Right after I collect the dishes," she stated after audibly swallowing some of the rice ball, "We're going to Training Ground Three. I'll tell you what we'll be doing when we get there."

It was when they arrived at Training Ground Three that Sakura dropped Sasuke's arm and stepped away from his stationary form. No emotions were betrayed on his face as she stood before him, studying him.

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