Wait, crap, she was talking to Naruto! Was she supposed to say something just now?

Huh. What was with that face Sakura just made?

Did he maybe do something wrong? He guesses that wasn't really a lot of information… he should probably say more.

"…Maybe I could introduce you two tomorrow? I'll bet she'd love to have another girl to talk to!"

There, that was helpful, wasn't it? Look at Naruto being good and nice and helpful! Sakura should ask him for help again!

Whoops. They'll have to practice operating in parallel without getting distracted from outside conversations.

Naruto's got a good idea though. Go for it. Maybe tie in the training offer, it's a decent setup.

"That would be great! Maybe we could all train together after class sometime?"

Oh shit.

Wait, really?

Did she just offer to hang out with him?

That's totally what that was, right?

He can totally handle this. Just be normal about it!

"That would be awesome! I can't wait!"

{Good girl. That went perfectly. Optionally ask what he's having trouble in, or just bow out to see him tomorrow.}

{Given our previous interactions, I think that might come across as a bit weird.}

Sakura hasn't exactly expressed interest in Naruto's problems in the past, and she's already acting a lot friendlier than she usually does.
She's worried he might think something is up if she also suddenly takes an interest in his personal life.

Something is up, but he doesn't need to know that yet.

{Reasonable. Just a thanks and see you tomorrow then.}

"Glad to hear it! Thanks so much for all the help."

"It's getting pretty late though—I'm gonna head home. See you tomorrow?"

"Sure thing!"

Sakura hops down from the stone face they were sitting on, and begins to make her way home.

{Wow, that went a lot better than I was expecting! I'm actually looking forward to meeting up tomorrow!}

Sable's definitely pleased. {Yeah! A lot of people just need a little kindness and opportunity, and they can do lots better.}

{I don't think I'd have agreed with you this morning, but I think I'm starting to come around to your point of view!}

Sakura begins making her way home—hopefully her parents will be asleep when she gets in.

Sable just simmers quietly with fondness and observes the village, basking in connection. Not being alone is great. Sakura's great. They're going to handle this together.

That they are!

They arrive at Sakura's home. The house is dark, and her trained senses can't pick up any sounds coming from it, so she approaches her bedroom window and begins opening it, slowly and quietly.

{I have class pretty early tomorrow, so I'll wanna get to sleep pretty soon. Is there anything we should talk about before that?}

{Not much. Just what I'm going to do while you sleep. Are there any chakra exercises I could do to work on my control and capacity, or things vaguely in that vein?}

{Oh, yeah, there totally are!}

Sakura tries pushing some experiential memories from her training over to Sable as she finishes sliding her window open and slips in.

She manages after a few attempts, and grins with satisfaction when she does.

{These are some basic chakra control and capacity exercises we learned in class. Sensei made us start with the control ones, so you probably should too—he warned us we'd hurt our chakra systems if we tried the capacity exercises without enough control.}

Sable pushes back a sense of agreement with that advice. {Yeah, I've seen that advice repeated across countless disciplines: start by doing it right, then worry about speed and power after that.}

{Exactly!} Sakura exclaims excitedly, happy that her new friend gets it.

{You would not believe how many of my classmates were badgering sensei to let them train their capacity early—I was practically the only one in my class who actually just did the work like a sensible student!}

Distracted by her excitement, she barely remembers to stay quiet as she closes her window.

{Once again, I'm extremely pleased to have landed a sensible host. Void save me from self-sabotaging fools.}

Warm fondness bubbles up from Sable.

Sakura smiles, returning her own burgeoning feelings of fondness as she makes her way to her bed and prepares to undress.