Chapter 18 – Whole
• Warm brown eyes shined at her. The corners of his mouth curled up into an easy smile. — This chapter, Katsuro is more laid back, happier. Away from Itachi, his personality shines through. So this is the true Naruto underneath.
• “Well? What about me?” Katsuro said in mock exasperation. “Do you think I’ve changed?” “No,” she said, chuckling in spite of her distracted feelings. “Not a bit.” — twist on the lines they say to each other after reuniting in part two. She asks if her appearance has changed, he happily tells her no.
• ‘This is it,’ she thought and stepped out of the tidy golden square. One foot, then the next. … Standing there, at the edge of a field that rolled away from her like an ocean, Sakura’s throat went dry. — The tug-of-war between Sakura’s village obligations and Katsuro’s obvious refusal of anything to do with village life will continue to build. But here, Sakura has to take the leap into the unknown for him.
Spoiler Notes:
• Faint brown freckles mottled his cheeks… the curls peeking out under the back of the straw hat were burnished gold by the midday sun. — The freckles “mottling” his cheeks are a cover for the whisker marks. And we know what Sakura can’t, that under that brown hair the blond is waiting to be revealed.
• Warmed by the sun, her hair moved just then in some slight, unseen breeze. It stirred a vague memory. — Two things are happening here. First, she’s remembering the genjutsu. The fragmented memory, the shimmery haze, it’s all just wisps of that happy illusion. She won’t remember it this clearly again. Second, this marks her first awareness of Katsuro’s nature as a wind user. Although neither of them know it yet. She will slowly come to recognize that there is something he does, something in response to her and her alone, that sets the air moving slightly around her. The lost memory of the genjutsu will become associated with Katsuro’s wind thing, and she will remember this warm, shimmery moment in the field as the beginning of a bond with him.
• Katsuro’s gaze drifted over her face, settled on her big green eyes, and he made a snap decision. — foreshadowing for a future event where he has to make a snap decision concerning the both of them.
• “One small slip can easily lead to a bigger fall,” he added gravely. — foreshadowing. There are very big changes which are coming slowly, steadily, in very small ways.
• Katsuro glanced down and plucked a leaf from the branch. He traced the smooth edges with a finger and laughed softly to himself. He would probably wait forever if he knew she would come. — This is a direct reference to the scene in the first chapter, where he is watching her from the branch as he decides on which team member to abduct. He plucks a green leaf from the branch before he leaps off after her, setting all these events in motion. He doesn’t realize it, but he’s picking he, over everything else in his life, all over again.
Omitted Scene:
This is just a very small variation on Sakura’s reaction to Katsuro asking her to meet him. It was a nice little interaction, but it got edited out of the final version. But now it lives on here.
“Wait,” he grabbed for her arm, the cart teetered again. He propped it against his leg, stepping closer to her. The jingling sound was growing steadily louder. Katsuro lowered his voice.
“You don’t have to tell me anything, ok?” he said quickly. “I don’t care what you’re doing here. It doesn’t matter to me.”
His words carried a desperate note. As if he were bargaining with everything he had.
“I— I just want to see you again,” he said softly.
Reflexively, Sakura sought out his eyes, and the look she found there stole her breath.
It wasn’t calculated or carelessly friendly.
It was the same look she’d seen countless times as a medic. The desperate pleading of a loved one for an unwell patient. The bitter mixture of need. And fear.
She was trained to detach, identify, pacify. And she did her job well. Assessing the need, efficiently doling out the cure. Reassuring the patient without getting too deeply involved.
But this was a vulnerability she’d never trained for. It struck her to the core.
No simple request, his expression betrayed a raw need. Like air, water, food. But this one was for a connection, a friendship.
Studying his eyes, she thought for the barest moment that maybe this was a side he let no one see.
Sakura swallowed thickly, suddenly aware of just how warm his hand was on her arm. She tore her gaze away and looked up the road, biting her lip.
18 Oct 2010 No Comments
Chapter 18 notes
Chapter 18 – Whole
• Warm brown eyes shined at her. The corners of his mouth curled up into an easy smile. — This chapter, Katsuro is more laid back, happier. Away from Itachi, his personality shines through. So this is the true Naruto underneath.
• “Well? What about me?” Katsuro said in mock exasperation. “Do you think I’ve changed?” “No,” she said, chuckling in spite of her distracted feelings. “Not a bit.” — twist on the lines they say to each other after reuniting in part two. She asks if her appearance has changed, he happily tells her no.
• ‘This is it,’ she thought and stepped out of the tidy golden square. One foot, then the next. … Standing there, at the edge of a field that rolled away from her like an ocean, Sakura’s throat went dry. — The tug-of-war between Sakura’s village obligations and Katsuro’s obvious refusal of anything to do with village life will continue to build. But here, Sakura has to take the leap into the unknown for him.
Spoiler Notes:
• Faint brown freckles mottled his cheeks… the curls peeking out under the back of the straw hat were burnished gold by the midday sun. — The freckles “mottling” his cheeks are a cover for the whisker marks. And we know what Sakura can’t, that under that brown hair the blond is waiting to be revealed.
• Warmed by the sun, her hair moved just then in some slight, unseen breeze. It stirred a vague memory. — Two things are happening here. First, she’s remembering the genjutsu. The fragmented memory, the shimmery haze, it’s all just wisps of that happy illusion. She won’t remember it this clearly again. Second, this marks her first awareness of Katsuro’s nature as a wind user. Although neither of them know it yet. She will slowly come to recognize that there is something he does, something in response to her and her alone, that sets the air moving slightly around her. The lost memory of the genjutsu will become associated with Katsuro’s wind thing, and she will remember this warm, shimmery moment in the field as the beginning of a bond with him.
• Katsuro’s gaze drifted over her face, settled on her big green eyes, and he made a snap decision. — foreshadowing for a future event where he has to make a snap decision concerning the both of them.
• “One small slip can easily lead to a bigger fall,” he added gravely. — foreshadowing. There are very big changes which are coming slowly, steadily, in very small ways.
• Katsuro glanced down and plucked a leaf from the branch. He traced the smooth edges with a finger and laughed softly to himself. He would probably wait forever if he knew she would come. — This is a direct reference to the scene in the first chapter, where he is watching her from the branch as he decides on which team member to abduct. He plucks a green leaf from the branch before he leaps off after her, setting all these events in motion. He doesn’t realize it, but he’s picking he, over everything else in his life, all over again.
Omitted Scene:
This is just a very small variation on Sakura’s reaction to Katsuro asking her to meet him. It was a nice little interaction, but it got edited out of the final version. But now it lives on here.
“Wait,” he grabbed for her arm, the cart teetered again. He propped it against his leg, stepping closer to her. The jingling sound was growing steadily louder. Katsuro lowered his voice.
“You don’t have to tell me anything, ok?” he said quickly. “I don’t care what you’re doing here. It doesn’t matter to me.”
His words carried a desperate note. As if he were bargaining with everything he had.
“I— I just want to see you again,” he said softly.
Reflexively, Sakura sought out his eyes, and the look she found there stole her breath.
It wasn’t calculated or carelessly friendly.
It was the same look she’d seen countless times as a medic. The desperate pleading of a loved one for an unwell patient. The bitter mixture of need. And fear.
She was trained to detach, identify, pacify. And she did her job well. Assessing the need, efficiently doling out the cure. Reassuring the patient without getting too deeply involved.
But this was a vulnerability she’d never trained for. It struck her to the core.
No simple request, his expression betrayed a raw need. Like air, water, food. But this one was for a connection, a friendship.
Studying his eyes, she thought for the barest moment that maybe this was a side he let no one see.
Sakura swallowed thickly, suddenly aware of just how warm his hand was on her arm. She tore her gaze away and looked up the road, biting her lip.
by tricksie in Chapter Notes