20

A Beginning, or is it really just a Continuation of Past Mistakes?

Disclaimer: Cause everyone's gotta have one! In case anyone reading this is unaware, Naruto is not my invention, if he was he would wear less clothing. Otherwise enjoy.

Note, I'm reading Naruto in French for the most part so (except for the massive reading ahead I'm doing on the net. But my main reference points are the French translations) if the names occasionally change to something close, but just slightly wrong, I've probably fallen into the French spellings. Especially Uchiha vs Uchiwa, no good 'h' sounds in French remember. In other words, destress and just go with the flow.

Rain Country

The man looked down into the earth. Far below he could see two young men their bodies curled in sleep. One lay half on his back, mouth open, possibly snoring. His wild blond hair was dark under the light rain, but the man knew that just below that outcropping of yellow sat the metal of a Konoha ninja forehead protector. The metal hard and unforgiving, unlike the grin that occasionally passed over his face even in sleep. The orange of the pants and jacket was hard to tell in the half-light, but again the man knew they were there. Eyes flicking he noted the changes a couple of years had wrought, pushing what had been a boy towards the man he would be. Hard muscle filled the shoulders and upper body easily seen through the net shirt, (something very new he noted,) pants were tight with the coiled strength that lay in his legs. The face had lost some of its roundness becoming slightly finer at the chin but squarer at the cheek bones. A face to set a young girl's hearts beating. But he wasn't the main focus of the scrutiny, not too far from him lay another young man curled on his side as if expecting blows. Long dark hair coiled in a short ponytail at his neck, the tip brushing his shoulders, pale skin glowing even in this half-light. Fine fingers curled and uncurled reflexively as if the dreamer was climbing or fighting even in sleep. The black clothes hid most of his body, but even with all the coverings the man knew that hard muscle lay under that soft skin. The face twitched, never calm, pale eyelids flickering, the soft fall of dark eyelashes fluttering. Cheeks stayed pale, then filled faintly with colour, only to empty again. Grimace after grimace twisted his lips. But otherwise his face was as it had been all those years ago. Even if now it carried more shadows. And some shadows were deeper than others.
From behind him someone called. Quickly clearing his face of an innappropriate expression for a doctor, the man turned and walked away.

Rain Country slightly later.

Naruto woke up with a thumping headache.
Bah, stupid Sasuke. Whaddya do this time?
There weren't that many mornings he'd woken up feeling crappy like this, most had Sasuke to blame in them somewhere. Why assume different now? Only usally there was a memory to pin him to, some proof of wrongs and a reason to pound his head in. Groaning he opened his eyes to the patter of raindrops falling on his upturned face. Huh, 's funny, can' feel no rain. Bloodly Sasuke.
Adding a couple more Bloodly Sasuke's in he struggled into a sitting position. Slowly his eyes travelled around trying to understand what he was seeing. Lifting one fist he opened it and watched the watery clay running slowly between his fingers. Awareness seeped in starting from his extremities, cold, wet, muddy, cold, not good. By the time he had enough braincells running, he had lumbered to his feet, stomach lurching.
A hole, I'm in a fucking hole!
The last thing Naruto could remember was eating a hot meal in the chief's house as a thank you for a mission well done. And now he was six feet down a muddy hole feeling like shit and being rained on. Feeling like not everything in his body was awake and running Naruto swung his head around trying to pick up an idea. Only one formed, climb.
Naruto dug a hand into the soft mud wall trying to get a hold on something to try climbing. The wall separated in a wet sucking sound. Naruto stared dumbly at the fistful of clay mud.
"Shit." A clear voice said. Naruto dropped the handful and tried to focus his eyes on a particularly large lump of clay mud. Slowly it struggled up into a vaguely man shaped, sitting up shape.
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked trying to find a trace of his good looking teammate under a thick coat of grey mud.
"Who else dobe?" Sasuke spat.
"You look like shit, prick." Naruto said gleefully, trying to stretch. "Shall we get out of here?"
Considering his crappy state Sasuke decided it wasn't worth getting riled up at only the first idiot thing Naruto said or did today.
"If you think you can." Sasuke said dryly, he made a gesture with his hand. Naruto glared at him, completely used to his bear like attitude in the mornings. Every morning for how long had he seen Sasuke glowering at nothing in particular, and snapping at Sakura-chan in the morning just because he'd had to crawl his lazy pampered arse out of bed before noon. But still he had to glare, otherwise Sasuke would think his bitchy mood was okay.
Naruto harumped Sasuke's doubts and gathered his chakra in his legs ready to leap the six feet to the entrance of the hole. At least he tried to gather his chakra. Confused he retook his position and concentrated like he'd always done. Nothing, nadda, zippo, oh no wait there was something! Oh! It was the ground rushing to meet his face, oh good. Naruto lay very still waiting for the world to stop spinning.
"Crap, shit, damn,..."
" And I'll stop you there, before you start to repeat yourself." Sasuke growled holding his head. " And before you ask, no I can't get my Chakra to work either."
"Chakra blocking?" Naruto growled back. Surprised Sasuke looked up at Naruto.
"Where'd you pick that up?" he asked curious. Naruto snorted.
"Where d'ya think? Sakura-chan, dumbass. You should try talking to her once an' a while."
Sasuke looked offended. But it was difficult to tell under all the mud.
"I talk." He stated stupidly.
"Huh." Was all that Naruto said. He struggled back into a sitting position. "I talk to her, she's got alot a interestin' stuff ta say you know."
"Shut up dobe." Sasuke glowered at the blonde. "We need to figure out a way around the chakra blockers. I only know what I picked up from Kabuto when I..." Sasuke trailed off, When I stabbed everyone in the back, when I destroyed you and Sakura, when I betrayed the only family I had. A hard smile crept on his face, bitterness twisting his features.
Naruto looked at him, understanding and forgiveness in his eyes, Sasuke looked away eaten by his self loathing.
Sighing, Naruto knew better than to push. Years had passed since those things had happened, but still Sasuke lived in the shame and guilt of his actions. Pardoned by Tsunade, forgiven by Kakashi, Naruto, his fellow leaf Genins, and most importantly Sakura, he had never stopped punishing himself. The many similarities they'd shared as orphens had widened to include sharing the general loathing of the village, but still he hadn't made any efforts to close the gap between him and his teammates. If anything he dove into the cold looks and barely disguised hate of strangers rather than turn towards his teammates.
Crossing his legs, trying to wipe off some of the rain, Naruto turned what was working in his groggy head towards remembering what Sakura had said about Chakra blockers. He had no problems seeing her in his mind's eye. Soft hair, soft bod, soft...
Nggg! Stop that! Gotta concentrate here.
But what had she said, with her soft, soft looking lips?

Konoha field

"Naruto? Naruto?" Sakura wapped Naruto on the head with her fist. "Your eyes are glazing over. If you don't want to hear about them, just tell me."
Shaking his head slowly ridding it of images of Sakura so close to him, Naruto smiled into Sakura's eyes.
"Ne, Sakura-chan I'm listening, I'm just relaxing too." For effect he rolled over onto his back looking at her upside down through a fall of his fringe, accidently ever so much closer to her now. An ever so faint blush touched her cheeks as she looked away harumping, Naruto smiled wider. It had taken years, but he was ever so slightly sure that she was falling for him finally. At least she was always happy to spend free time with him, talking and doing nothing special. And then there was the blushing and the sneaked looks. He didn't know how he'd done it, but suddenly he'd turned 16 and become handsome, even sexy, and cunning. With fan girls aswell!
Naruto had enjoyed every minute of it. He'd gone from scaggy brat that noone wanted to sit next to much less talk to, to pin up. He didn't know what Sasuke had been complaining about. Except now the parents of said fan girls were wild against him, some had tried to mount a petition to have him thrown out, or at least castrated. Tsunade had almost burst a seam telling him about it. Naruto had been almost sick at the thought, Sakura had snickered and offered to perform the operation herself. Naruto had retorted that she just wanted a chance to see him naked on a table. His jaw still hurt from her reply. After the threat of castration, his 'pin-up' activites had gone down. No more flirting and accepting gifts, or accompaning groups of fan girls to be hand-fed lunch. Besides none of that had pushed Sakura-chan into the jealous rage he'd hoped for. But he'd kept his pin up outfit. Ino had taken a perverse pleasure in advising him on how a heart throb should dress. Naruto asserted he didn't want to look like he was trying to sell his bod', an' he didn' wanna look like no Sasuke wanna be.
Ino had compromised admirably, though he'd had to threaten major damage before she'd stop harping on about wearing short shorts. In the end he kept his jacket and pants, no abs showing short jacket please, though the pants were strangely tighter 'round the butt now. Naruto had swallowed any complaints though the first time Sakura had seen them and had openly stared at his arse. He'd even tried walking away from her and then turning around quickly to see if she was still looking at his butt moulded pants. Yep! And the best was she'd been so flustered at being caught out, that she fallen right out of her seat. Hell yeah! That's why he was turning heart-throb!
According to the many love letters he'd received his major attributes were his crystal blue eyes, and his golden hair. If he took one particulary graphic letter as truth, he had various other physical attributes worthy of breaking a heart over as well (his butt pants score again!). But, he was saving those for Sakura-chan as well. In the meantime he could use his hair and eyes, his grin to get her to notice that he wasn't the runty little kid he used to be. He was hot, and if she gave the word, he was hers. Happily and wholely. It was, he thought, working, slowly.
"Remember what Neji did to you that time? Blocking all your Chakra by closing your chakra holes? Well I found out there are certain plants that do the same thing." She snuck a look at him, Naruto blinked his blue eyes slowly looking at her innocently. She blushed faintly again before frowning at him severely.
"If you mix them into something and then get someone to eat them, they block the chakra flow for at least 24 hours sometimes longer. It depends on how strong the subject is. But if you just readminister the dose every day you're fine ."
To prove that he had been listening Naruto asked a question.
"Why not give 'em heaps and have it last a week?" Naruto used his shoulders and elbows to lift his head into her lap. Looking up at her face he smiled innocently, sure that Sakura wouldn't push him away if he just stayed still. After all they'd been through together she couldn't push him away without admitting that him touching her affected her. And darling stubborn Sakura would never admit he could shake her up from anything as silly as his head in her lap. As if to prove she wasn't moved by him, she placed her hand on his chest in a friendly affectionate way.
"So," Naruto prompted, gleefully aware that Sakura was thinking of other things. "why not give em a really big dose?"
"Because too big a dose and the subject dies from brain hemmoraging, of course too small and the effects wear off in a few minutes and you have one pissed off ninja in front of you."
Sakura's breathing quickened as Naruto lazily laced his fingers through hers on his chest.
Clearing her throat in an annoyed sort of way, she continued.
"The signs that you've eaten some of these plants are dizziness, a general feeling of grogginess, extreme lack of coordination, and of course if you try to use chakra you find yourself empty." Sakura gazed out over the sunny field, small flowers bobbed in a soft breezes, the trees stayed unmoved, their favourite spot in Konoha was certainly beautiful. If she could just stop thinking about certain things when she was with Naruto. It was only lust she told herself, lust and friendship being mixed up. Not something to ruin her friendship with Naruto over, and certainly not worth screwing up Team 7. After all there was Sasuke-kun to think about.
As if summoned by the thought Sasuke appeared in the distance. Shaking her hand free from Naruto she started to stand up.
"Sasuke's coming." She explained, "It must be important."
"Yeah," Naruto grumped. "He never turns up unless it's business."
Sakura looked at him reproachfully.
"Naruto, remember what he's been through." Sakura started smiling that smile for Sasuke as he approached closer and closer. "We have to give him time, and most importantly show him how important he is to us."
Naruto wasn't sure that being a door mat for his bad moods was the way to break through his barriers. In his experience, breaking was better done with fists and feet. But he was also anxious not to drive Sasuke away, and he didn't want Sakura to think that he hadn't matured since the age of 12, so he bugged Sasuke in private where she wouldn't see. In order to extend their moment just that little while longer, Naruto tugged her wrist slipping his hand briefly into hers.
"Ne, Sakura-chan can you get rid of the effects?" Sasuke never bothered to talk to her like this. Sakura smiled back at him.
"Nope you can't, you just have to wait out the effects and most importantly don't keep eating the stuff!" She poked him in the forehead, her smile turning into a grin as Naruto tumbled over into the grass. "Me, I could draw it out just like any other poison."
"Sakura-chan! Unfair!" Naruto complained. Sakura poked out the tip of her tongue at him and touched the reddening spot left by her strike. Warm chakra removed the last traces of pain. Smiling even more she looked at Sasuke.
"Hello Sasuke-kun! You look well." She watched hopefully for any sign of warmth or pleasure in seeing her.
"Kakashi-sensei wants to see us in the usual place." Sasuke intoned stepping into the shade of the tree. Sakura's smile faltered ever so slightly.
"Right! I just need to pass by my house first, I'll meet you guys there!" Sakura said too cheerfully. Waving a cheery goodbye she raced for home to add her ninja gear to the medical kit she always carried.
"Why doesn't she just carry her ninja gear with her, like a normal kunoichi?"
"Buh. You certainly picked your time well, Sasuke-bastard." Naruto groused.
"Sorry, dobe. Did I interrupt you being a heart throb?" Sasuke asked sarcastically, watching Naruto's face turn more shades of red.
"I was that close to getting a kiss you prick." Naruto said firmly showing a smal space between his finger tips.
"In your dreams loser. Hurry up if Sakura gets there before us, she'll bawl us out." Turning on his heel, Sasuke stalked off towards the bridge.
Geez he's worse than Sakura-chan when she's near that time of the month.
Grumbling Naruto followed Sasuke's trail.

Note: Naruto has no real idea what 'that time of the month' means, but he'd noted that there were times Sakura-chan was particulary irritable, even for her. So he asked Kakashi-sensei, who said that all women past a certain age, once a month decided to punish all the males around them by being particulary bad tempered. It was a secret thing necessary to being a women. All he could do was be particulary nice to Sakura-chan during that period and for gods sake don't do anything overwhelmingly stupid. She could kill him for it. It confirmed in Naruto's head that women were indeed mysterious scary creatures.

Big ol' hole

"Would you stop saying her name." Sasuke complained to Naruto. "Your stupid fantasising isn't getting us out of here."
Naruto looked towards Sasuke who had given up trying to stand or even sit upright and was slumped against the soft wall. Typical, Sasuke dominated the only part of the hole that had some rain cover from an overhanging tree. No question of sitting next to him in his mood.
"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura!" Naruto said loudly. "What's your problem?"
"Nothing, you just talk about her too much." Sasuke growled.
"Do not."
"Do too." Glaring Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Every three bloody minutes, it's Sakura this, Sakura that."
"Yeah, and? When you're in love you're like that." Naruto glared back.
"Great you're in love." Sasuke looked away. "Who'd want a screw up like you."
"She's starting to, I can tell." Naruto replied bitter. "It's taken years to get past the spell you put on her, but she's finally starting to notice that I ain't a little boy anymore."
Sasuke stared at Naruto, then a lazy smile started on his face.
"Idiot, if you keep flirting with her like you've been doing, all she'll end up doing is wanting your body, but not you." Sasuke tried tiredly to drag some mud out of his hair. "Just like all the other little fan girls you were running around with." He finished contemputesly. "Trust me, fan girls aren't worth your spit."
"You'd know prick." Naruto returned with venom, all those years of being the number one heart throb, and now Naruto had taken his place. "But that was always your mistake, Sakura-chan isn't just a 'fan girl'. She's special."
Sasuke didn't bother responding to that.
"So what did she say?"
"Who?" Naruto said still steaming over Sasuke calling his Sakura-chan a fan-girl.
Sasuke gritted his teeth again.
"Sakura, dumbass."
"Whadda you wanna know for, you're sick 'n' tired of hearing 'bout that stupid fan girl."
"I never said she was a fan-girl. Just that if you're not careful she's gonna become one, again."
Naruto clenched his fists.
"If you weren't so sick I'd pound you into muddy pulp."
"You couldn't get enough co-ordination together to do it, dobe." Sasuke corrected a smirk crawling onto his face.
Growling Naruto dragged himself to his feet and drunkingly made his way towards Sasuke. Reaching his side Naruto slumped down next to him.
"You shut the hell up 'bout Sakura-chan, you don' know nothin' about her." Naruto said trying to figure out which of the three Sasukes swimming in front of his eyes was the real one.
"Then let's just get the hell outta here." A moment of silence passed.
"So what's the plan genius boy?" Naruto said holding the sides of his head to stop the spinning.
"What plan? I ain't got a plan." Sasuke griped. "Why do I always have to be the brains? That's why I hate being on mission with you alone. I gotta think of everything."
"Oh being alone with me on a mission is bad, I guess you prefer being on a mission with Sakura-chan!" Naruto retorted. If he was in a crappy mood Sasuke could damn well be in a crappier mood. Not hard considering Sasuke was grumpy in the mornings anyway.
"There you go again! Not even two minutes and you have to talk about her again." Sasuke groaned.
"Whadda ya got against her?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing." Sasuke sighed sagging back against the mud . Naruto frowned, confused, he wished his brain would stop jumping in his head.
"Then why're you always such a bastard about her? She just wants you to like her." Naruto asked.
Sasuke gave a bitter smile.
"You wouldn't understand."
"Ah."
Sasuke glared over at Naruto suspiciously.
"What do you mean, ah?" Naruto gave him a sly look.
"Nothing." Naruto said leaning back himself, hands behind his head.
"Nothing what?" Sasuke asked, paranoid. Naruto smirked.
"This is all part of that keeping people away because you're an evil bastard and need to be punished thing that Tsunade-baba, keeps going on about."
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"She doesn't, it's not... feh, you can be such an idiot you ass."
"Sure. Anyway I don't care if you act Mr Icy-ass with Sakura-chan, it just pushes her faster towards me." Naruto watched Sasuke twitch.
"I'm not doing it for you, you moron."
"Right, you're doing it because you're evil and you want to be punished." Naruto's smile widened as Sasuke twitched again.
"No, wrong again ass."
"You alreadly called me an ass, you running out of words?"
"Ass...wipe." Sasuke said with effect. Naruto's good mood dipped ever so slightly.
"So, I'm an asswipe, you little femmelette?"
"You don't even know what a femmelette is, numbnuts."
"Oh you think you're so smart with all your words, I've been learning things too you know. A femmelette is..." Before he could finish, Sasuke's fist collided with his jaw. The world spun harder than it should before Naruto keeled over sideway into the mud again.
"Don't you ever call me that again." Sasuke warned hate think in his voice.
"Shit." Naruto lifted his head out of the sucking mud. "What the fuck do we put up with you for?"
"Don't ask me." Sasuke replied. "Can we get back to figuring out how to get out of here?"
Tired Naruto nodded. He'd wait until his head righted itself and then he'd pound Sasuke again, yeah, that's it, just gotta stop all this spinning.

Later

"Do ya think it'll stop raining soon?" Naruto asked his vision still doing wonky things.
"We're in the Country of Rain, what do you think?" Sasuke's voice drifted from somewhere behind him.
"Do ya think that people are worried 'bout us?" Naruto heard Sasuke snort.
"You mean, do I think Sakura-chan is worried about you."
"No, she worries 'bout us. All the time, 'specially you. Even when it's just me 'n ' her, an' I'm being all heart-throbby like in Ero-sennin's books. She's thinkin' 'bout you too." Naruto closed his eyes, that was better. "You're so lucky."
"Don't know why she bothers."
"Me neither. You're a bastard."
"Yeah." Sasuke whispered. "Naruto, you feeling any better?"
"No."
"Hmp, tell me when your super fox powers kick in and you get your chakra back."
"Mm." Naruto turned his head slowly trying to focus his eyes and locate Sasuke. "I'll get to savin' our butts soon. Is it gettin' darker in here?"
"Nah. You're just stupider than usual."
"Ah, tha's good."
Supiciously Sasuke watched Naruto swaying in his sitting position, head hanging. But before he could bring himself to ask if he was okay, Sasuke heard footsteps approaching the opening of the hole.
Here they come. Sasuke thought grimly. Wonder what they want.
At the opening stood a man Sasuke recognised as the village leader, behind him holding what looked like a kitchen knife and a pitch fork were two of the villagers. Sasuke almost laughed.
If people could see us now, the great Naruto and the amazing Sasuke reduced to this by farmers, I could die laughing. At least Sakura isn't here too. Staring up at them he felt a brief wave of nausea pass over him. On the other hand, if she was here, we'd already be out of here.
"You thar. Ninjah." The leader commanded, putting as much force as possible into his voice.
"Yeah?" Sasuke spat to his side to show his contempt.
"How you lik tha extrah spices in aowr food? A brief laugh came from the two. "Yah frend luk lik 'e dyin'."
Sasuke risked a glance at Naruto.
"Nah, he's fine." Sasuke lied, feeling the first real stirrings of concern.
"We gav' 'im an extrah strung dos a tha stuff. Nuff ta killa normal mahn." An angry look passed over the face of the leader. "'e wahrned us a wha 'e is."
"Oh yeah," Sasuke said feigning disinterest, "what did he say?"
"Tha 'e's a danrus killah," The leader pointed to the slumped Naruto, "an' tha youse is be'ind wha's wrung wit aowr liddle uns."
"I don't understand." Sasuke said frowning. And it's not just Rain Country farmer accents either.
"Youse is tha raison aowr liddle uns is dyin'." The leader pointed at both of them. "tha firs uns got sick jus' af'er youse lef' tha firs' taime. Thase udders got sick whan youse got bac'. An' naow, 'e tell us thay's gonna die 'less youse tell us wha youse did a tham."
"I don't suppose you'd believe me if I said we didn't do anything?"
Stony silence met the question.
"Will you at least tell me who he is?"
The leader looked at him pride filling his face.
"'e's tha doctah. Cames reahl of'en, luks af'er us, giv's us thase tretmen's." An angry look on his face again. "an' youse gonna tell us wha youse did. Tha doctah tol' us wha ta do 'bout youse ninjah."
As he spoke the three men tied handkerchiefs over their faces. A cold trickle of fear crept down Sasuke's back. A kind of incense burner was hung over the branch of the overhanging tree and lowered into the pit. A thick blue smoke poured out the sides.
If I wasn't poisoned already I could climb that in a second and get us out.
Sasuke felt his limbs become heavier, and his head started to get dizzy again.
It's those chakra blockers again! Damn it have to hold my breath!
Using his training, Sasuke covered his nose and mouth as best he could and tried not to breathe. Luckily the burner was removed after only a few minutes. Sasuke head teetered but he could still think straight. Checking Naruto Sasuke felt his heart skip a beat. The blond haired ninja lay on his side his face a pale colour, and eyes were rolled back in his head.
"Yah frend cahn' tak' mach mor'. Wi'll giv' yah a liddle whil' ta thin' it ova." So saying the three men left the burner still hanging in the tree overhead, the blue smoke drifting slowly out.
Crawling through the mud his arms shaking from the effort, Sasuke dragged Naruto's head onto his lap to keep his mouth free of muck.
"Come on bone head, pull that Kyuubi magic out and kick this bastard in the head." Sasuke felt panic taking hold of him as Naruto lay limp across his legs. Casting his eyes around frantically his head starting to ring like a gong he knew of only one person's help he wanted at that precise moment.
"SAKURA! SAKURA! SAKURAAAA!" His voice grew hoarse with the smoke and the tiredness and the stress.
"Someone, come and help him." Sasuke hung his head. "Sakura, we need you."
"Sak-ra-cha." Naruto mumbled his eyelids fluttering. Sasuke gripped Naruto's shoulder with a hand that shook.
"Yeah, Sakura's gonna get real pissed if you don't beat this thing." Sasuke warned softly.
"Sak-ra-cha." Naruto repeated his face losing some of it's slackness.
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind if she were here right now either." Sasuke whispered down to Naruto.
"'Course she'd be no better off than me, and then what would I do with both of you sick?"
Sasuke looked up at the raining sky.
"It's much better that she isn't here. It's better if she stays away from me. Safer." Shaking his head Sasuke wondered if he was going mad thinking things like that.
"Feh, your idiocy is rubbing off, baka."
Naruto replied by vomitting onto Sasuke's knees. Back heaving, body shaking, Naruto emptied his stomach onto his friend. Sasuke twitched, anger barely reined in.
"You. Fucking. Idiot." He ground out.
"Shud dup." Naruto growled. "I'm geddin' bedder. Your faul' for puddin' your knees there."
"You're better?" Sasuke asked relief washing through him, almost making him forget about the mess currently covering his lower legs.
"No." Naruto grumbled. "I'm geddin' bedder." Naruto pushed off Sasuke's knees to flop onto his back.
"You stink." Naruto told Sasuke covering his aching eyes.
"Prick." Sasuke told Naruto a tight feeling loosening in his aching chest.
"You're the prick." Naruto corrected vaguely.
Looking at his ruined pants, gagging slightly with the smell Sasuke started to untie his belt. Without too much movement Sasuke got his pants and shoes off, then chucked the whole lot into a corner and covered it with mud to hide the smell.
"I'm glad Sakura-chan's not here." Naruto said finally. "I don't like it when she cries."
"She only cries because she cares, you fool." Sasuke said shivering without the protection of his trousers.
"Yeah, she cares alot." Naruto lapsed into silence. "Do you think she cares for me? Like she used ta care for you?" Sasuke hunched over.
"I wish you'd stop asking me about her."
"Sorry, makes me feel better to think about her." A brief smile flittered across his face. "She's so beautiful, and strong, and when she looks at me..."
"You are in love." Sasuke said his voice unreadable.
"Yeah." Naruto sighed happily. He raised his head slightly, then his vision swimming he let it fall again. "Are you in love Sasuke?"
"What's the use?" Sasuke asked. "Why don't we think about what's gonna get us out of here?"
"'kay." Naruto said a faint smile on his face. "I wanna see Sakura-chan again."
Groaning out loud Sasuke massaged his temples trying to stop the gong sound.
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "Can I ask you a question?"
"As long as it doesn't involve love or Sakura." Sasuke replied tiredly. Naruto moved his head slowly from side to side.
"No, I wanna ask. Why don't you have any pants?"
Sasuke gave up rubbing his temples.

Later again

"Sasuke...Sasuke."
Sighing Sasuke rolled over.
"What?"
"Do we have a plan yet?"
"Do you have any chakra yet?"
"No." Naruto said grumpily.
"Then we ain't got no plan."
"We got taken down by farmers Sasuke."
"..."
"I still feel sick, if you wanted ta know."
"I didn't."
"Oh. When do you think they'll come back?"
"Don't know, but we have to tell them something."
"We could really do with Shikamaru right now."
"As long as we've no chakra and this sickness keeps up, we can't do anything except survive."
Naruto frowned in concentration, pain made him grimace. Geez that stuff was stubborn.
"Sasuke, they're farmers."
"I know."
"Yeah, but they don' know 'bout this stuff. How'd they get it?"
"There's someone helping them, a doctor." Sasuke replied holding as still as possible to stop the rising pain.
"Ah, but still, they're farmers."
"You said that." Sasuke's jaw was hurting for some reason.
"Yeah, an' we're ninja. We can out think farmers." Naruto asserted.
"Like how."
"Let's keep it simple."
I'm relying on the idiot to think of a plan to save us, we are so dead.
"What do we need." Naruto said.
"To get out, to get better so we can taijutsu their arses, and find this doctor."
"Ta get out we need them ta gettus out." Naruto said trying to fight off the waves of nausea which came with thinking so hard. "Why would they get us out?"
"If we promised to tell them what they wanted to know. Show them some plants." Sasuke offered panting with the effort not to vomit on himself.
"Yeah, how do we get better?"
"Don't know, what did Sakura tell you?"
"Ta wait it out, not ta eat more, that she could take it out like a poison."
Sasuke felt a glimmer of hope.
"I know a type of seed that probably grows around here, works to block poison in a body, it might do something to lessen the effects. We don't need much just enough to get away."
"Yeah, they're only farmers." Naruto repeated like a charm against bad luck.

Later still

"Sasuke?"
"What?" Sasuke snapped. His head was finally starting to clear, he hoped the effects of the chakra poisoning was wearing off."Do you think they're just gonna leave us here ta die?"
"If we die, their kids die." Sasuke said. "They think we can save them. They'll come."
"Yeah, but why aren' they back yet?"
"Doesn't matter, feels like the effects of that bloody poison is finally wearing off me. A little more time and I'll be able to get us out of here." Sasuke glanced up at the wall. If he could just lose the dizziness and get some real use of his body back, he could get up that wall, get Naruto out and get to a med nin, preferably Sakura. Or someone equally skilled he amended quickly. Sasuke watched the burner still hanging above the hole, blue wisps of smoke still slipping out of the sides.
"Sasuke, don' freak."
"I'm not freaking, freak. I'm finally getting back on track. Looks like we don't need your Kyuubi powers after all." Sasuke smirked.
"If you're gettin' on track, why are your ears bleedin'?" Naruto asked dragging himself over towards Sasuke. Slowly Sasuke lifted his hands and touched the warm trickles of blood on his jaw. Falling immediately into analysis, he noted the sluggish pace and the relatively lightness of the flow.
"Shit." He said. "It's not too bad." Sasuke wiped away the old traces of blood, shrugging off Naruto's attempts to look.
"But Sakura-chan said that if you took too much you'd die from brain hemmoraging. Sasuke, your brain's behind your ears!" Naruto said a look of worry on his face.
Sauske snorted with laughter.
"Of course my brain's behind my ears. Idiot."
"But, your ears are bleeding, that could mean your brain is bleeding. That could mean you're dying!" Naruto explained, trying to get past Sasuke's flapping hands.
"I'm not dying peabrain. Quit getting worked up for nothing. We just gotta get out of here, that's all." Finally left in peace Sasuke subsided into a small bitter smile.
"Gotta do something." Naruto muttered.
"You got any chakra?"
"No."
"Absolutely none, not even Kyuubi?"
"Yeah, not even him. Everytime I try I end up on the ground spewing."
Silence fell.
"If Sakura-chan was here..."
Sasuke groaned.
"What?" Naruto snapped.
"Why do you keep wishing she was here, she'd be just as sick and then she'd be complicating things up again."
"You really haven' been paying attention these last few years huh?" Naruto said smugly. "Sakura rocks. With her med nin stuff an' her monster strength, an' an'...her. She's not weak you know."
Sasuke remained silence.
"So waddya think 'bout her really?"Naruto pressed. "I really wanna know, cause if you're interested in her, then I'm gonna have ta get serious 'bout winnin' her over."
Sasuke gritted his teeth, of all subjects he hated this one the most.
"Hey Sasuke can you hear me?"Naruto pressed, pissed that Sasuke was ignoring him again.
"Hey! Sasuke! I said, whaddya think 'a' Sakura-chan?"
"NOTHING! OKAY! I DON'T THINK ANYTHING about her!" Panting from the effort of his screaming, his head ringing again, Sasuke clapped his hands over his ears feeling a new flow of blood from his ears.
"Well, that's just peachy." A dry voice said from well above them. "And here I was all worried about you two bone heads."
Looking up a tight feeling in his chest, Sasuke saw Sakura standing at the mouth of the hole, an angry smirk on her face. Absently through the ringing in his head he noted the way her shoulder length hair was pinned back in a bun which suited her. Stupidly for no particular reason a silly smile grew on his face looking at her standing there in the rain, come to save them.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called happyily.
"Hey Naruto. You guys okay?" Sakura cocked her head to one side, analysing them as best she could. Her chakra scanning worked best from close distance, preferably touching. Sasuke tumbled slowly to the side, his blood mixing slowly with the mud under his head.
"Sakura-chan! Sasuke's ears are bleeding! Get down here now!" Naruto called frantically leaning on the mud walls.
Sakura frowned, assessing her options. Not bothering to discuss things anymore, she grabbed the handy rope hanging in the tree..
"Sakura, get that stuff away from you, it's a chakra blocker!" Naruto warned her. Glaring at the burner, she cut it from the rope and tossed it a little away, intending to study it later. Securing the rope for a heavier weight, Sakura jumped into the pit.
Immediately she went to Sasuke, her face a mask of controlled worry. Years of training kicked in as she started her analysis. Naruto sat beside her worried and glad all at the same time. Confident in Sakura's ability, after all she'd never let anything happen to him or Sasuke, he contented himself to watch his Sakura-chan at work; Just watching her made him...wobbly.
Sakura sighed in relief.
"Sakura-chan?" The muddy ninja called Naruto asked. "Is Sasuke gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, the bleeding is just from his ear drums. I can quick fix it, get you guys out and then do an indepth healing a little later." Sakura looked at Naruto taking his head in her hands scanning him as she had Sasuke. "When you said chakra blockers and Sasuke's ears were bleeding, I really thought the worst you idiot. Let me check you over"
"Neh Sakura-chan, I'm okay, just a bit sick. You know me, Kyuubi power comes through again." So saying Naruto swayed forward collapsing onto Sakura.
"Yeah you're fine, idiot."
On the ground beside them, Sasuke watched Sakura wrap Naruto in her arms as she finished her analysis. The tight feeling in his chest tightened another knot. The healing jutsu she'd used on his ears had helped his feeling of nausea, the headache, and the dizziness. He should just get up and leave, after all he'd gone and done it again without even meaning to. He'd hurt Sakura-chan, the one person he didn't really want to hurt. It just confirmed his suspicion that he wasn't made for getting along with people. And she certainly looked cozy there with Naruto.
Sasuke you bastard. You're not made to live like this.
But somehow, even listening to that cold inner voice he just couldn't bring himself to step away from the warmth surrounding the two most important people in the world for him. There was time for that later, when he was better, then he could go back to his coldness. Back to the emptiness that was his life. His chosen punishment.

Epilogue

"They're all dead?" Naruto whispered sick to the heart. Sitting there in only clean pants, a towel over his wet hair, he looked up at Kakashi his blue eyes begging to be told it wasn't true.
"All of them Naruto. Even the children." Her throat closing, Sakura finished closing her repacked medical kit. Fighting off tears. She had included samples of the herb used to keep Sasuke and Naruto subdued.
"When we received word from Shikamaru's team that there was trouble in the area we came right away." Kakashi ran his hands over his face. "We intended to pull you off this mission to investigate, but by the time we got here, all we found were dead bodies. It was a bit of luck that Sakura found you guys."
"So that's why they didn't come back." Sasuke said quietly. In his corner sitting on his futon the dark-haired ninja steepled his fingers together, eyes dark. "And the ones who did this?"
"Gone. I thought about giving chase, but with your condition...it's better to report it to the Rain Country authorities, after all we aren't in the Fire Country, and we can't do what ever we want here." Kakashi said. "We'll head back in the morning."
Sasuke noted the quick look shot between Sakura and Kakashi. Feigning tiredness Sasuke lay back. Slowly the room got darker, the sound of Naruto's even breathing grew louder. Sasuke lay his eyes closed his ears alert. By the window Sakura touched Kakashi's shoulder.
"Kakashi-sensei. Thankyou for not telling Sasuke-kun about him." Sakura whispered.
"He'll find out eventually, but I suspose it's too early to tell him anything. After all he hasn't fully reintergrated into Team 7 and Konoha yet." Kakashi didn't take his lazy regard from the window. Rain was still falling, creating a soft background whispering.
"Why do you think he did it? And all those children? It's so horrible." Sakura's whisper was full of horrors she hadn't told them yet.
"I don't think we'll know that for a while. He is very good at what he does. But I'm sure the reports you're writing will help us figure it out." Kakashi lazily regarded Sakura's tight face.
"I know what you had to do was hard but I wanted Konoha to have a first hand report of the damages, and your experienced opinion on what kind of experiments he was doing."
Sakura nodded, dismissing the heart-breaking work as part of the mission.
"We have to catch him Kakashi-sensei. He's at least as much of a monster as Orochimaru ever was."
"We will Sakura, after all when Sasuke finally finds out who it was, I doubt we'll have much choice."
Sakura slumped as she thought of how much more pain her beloved Sasuke was going to go through. She hated the thought of him suffering any more. She became a med nin to protect Naruto and Sasuke from this sort of stuff.
"Oh why did it have to be Kabuto Kakashi-sensei? Why isn't he dead? I was sure he was dead."
Kakashi didn't answer.
Sakura prepared herself for bed.
On his futon, Sasuke felt poisoness anger and helplessness burn through him.
The oh so helpful doctor, the chakra blockers, all those dead people just one more thing I have to thank you for Kabuto.
Furious Sasuke opened his eyes, Across from him the wide blue eyes of Naruto looked back at him. Feeling trapped, helpless, Sasuke was furious against himself and Kabuto.
Just stay away from me, you have no idea how dangerous I really am. I ruin lives that's all I'm good for. Just stay away.
Coldly he turned his back on Naruto's sympathetic eyes, only to find Sakura's back on his other side. Damn it everywhere he turned either she or he turned up. Why couldn't they just learn to stay away. He couldn't risk turning or moving again so he stayed still, his nose almost touching her hair, the perfume of her skin and shampoo filling his head. His hands an inch from the back. Fighting the urge to scream his frustration, Sasuke lay trapped between two people unsure if it was anger or fear that made him want to run away.

When I started this story in my head, it was supposed to be a Sakura-centric fic. Damn story changed on me when I wasn't looking. So now it will be done in two parts, the main story chapter, like this one, and then the Sakura POV chapter, like the the following chapter. The Sakura POV chapters will only happen when Sakura doesn't have a main POV role in the main story chapter. And why? Because I want to. Any ideas or specific criticism welcome.