Prologue
Regardless of her trembling in fear, a struck of light hit her, without thinking properly she launched her whole body towards Sasuke, in a matter of seconds the raven hair boy was in the floor a few inches away from her, his eyes wide open in surprise
The relief she felt from seeing Sasuke safe immediately changed to fear and a horrid pain corroding her whole body, something very pointy and sharp was clutching against her skin in her neck, she had read fairy stories about vampires sucking up blood from young and more than eager damsels and describing it as a pleasant and out of space sensation, she noted those books to be utterly wrong and swore to never ever read them again, her body was burning, her neck aching and something was crawling from her neck to her whole body, something was possessing her taking control of her.
In another note of stupid bravery she aimed one of her kunai to the back of the head of the man know as Orochimaru, nonetheless although missed few inches, it made its purpose, the snake man retreated instantly with a growl, with surprise and distaste in his eyes
-It seems I have ran out of time, we will meet again – with a move of hands he was gone
Sasuke was in shock, dumbfounded and…. worried.
Sakura on the other hand, was in utterly pain, her knees collapsed with her body curling in a ball, her neck was burning even more than fire, screams and tears streamed down her pale and sweaty skin.
Sasuke ushered her, a contact he thought was awkward and clumsy, nonetheless Sakura screams were horrifying, he embraced her tight as he could, allowing her to put her face on his knees, a situation that he would never guessed would happen
Naruto watched embedded in guilt, he was´t able to protect Sakura, on the contrary she protected them, receiving two big and important attacks on her body, one for Naruto and the other for Sasuke
As the screams continued, Sasuke heart ached more and more, his mind rushing and getting clouded for vengeance, whatever the snake man did to Sakura was unforgivable.
The light in the forest was dim, shadows appeared in every corner, on every tree. The chipper of birds quieted followed by Sakura screams, she fell into unconscious after Sasuke gaped the whole in the back of her neck, it seemed as the only correct thing to do, for mercy, for her and for them.
He didn´t know what to do from there, the events of the first day were wearing heavy on his body and mind and realisation struck him, it could have been them instead of Sakura to receive those attacks, and he was mad, mad at her for being so annoying and for protecting them with her body, mad at Naruto for not being able to defend himself and avoid Sakura being hurt, and mad at him for the same reason he was mad at Naruto, they were´t able to save Sakura
-Sasuke - the heavy voice of Naruto called his attention, the look on his eyes, full of regret and at the same time determination was their new unspoken agreement, they will protect Sakura from the damn forest, and they will make it alive, all three of them
He carried her in princess style, making sure her wounds were not going to be open. It was strange for him, he did´t feel the need to growl at the contact or to throw her away because she was to close, even if his wounded leg pained he didn´t want to let go of her or to Naruto to carry her, as annoying as she was, he cared for her, not that he could explain it how or why but he just cared
Both ninja jumped from the branch looking for a safe place to rest, they were wide open, wounded and tired with an almost fallen comrade, easy targets to be attacked. And with that, was the end of day one of the second part of the chunk exams, and the beginning of a long journey for team seven, especially for Sakura.