A\N: Hi again! I'm back with my next long story.. Thanx to everyone who read my previous story, and a special thanks to those of them who reviewed. So here you go enjoy!
Note: () this means a time and place skip or a whole scene change, (-) this means a time skip only or place jump only. Try not to get confused. (….) usually just means the character is pausing. I translate the Japanese words between dashes. And sometimes just comment.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.. Sayuri is my OC..
A friend in demand
A.K.A
Choices
"Naruto turn from the left, Sakura you go from the right, I'll be ahead of you" the white haired ninja said, jumping on the high trees, of Haiiro Forest. -Gray Forest-
"Hai" -Yes- the two younger nins said, immediately obeying their leader.
The pink haired girl jumped out of the trees and ran deeper into the forest, while blond boy turned left and continued jumping through the trees.
His blue eyes quickly scanned the area for his target, but he saw no one, "there's no one here I'm going to go near the cliff, I can't see that area from here" he said into the mike of the wireless radio.
"Okay but be careful" his teacher's voice came out.
"Hai" he answered simply, closing off his end of the transmission.
He stopped at the end of the tree ring, he quickly searched the area, "I can't find anyone here, I guess…" he talked into the radio.
But his sentence was cut short at the sight of a gruff looking man, THE gruff looking man, "Sakura, Kakashi-Sensei I think I fou.. uhh"
This time his sentence was cut short when the man suddenly charged at him, and punched him in the gut, "Naruto! What happened? Naruto!" he heard his friend frantically yell into the radio.
He tried to answer her, but the man flipped in the air and kicked him the head, Naruto crashed into many branches as he fell to the ground. He tried to slow down his fall so he wouldn't end up splattered on the floor, he succeeded but still he received a pretty painful fall.
The man jumped down after him, his heal preceding him, searching for a place to land on the blonds some-what broad chest. Naruto opened his eyes wearily to see that, he quickly flipped to the side, letting the man's foot sink into the hard ground.
The man turned to him and glared, "Kagebunshin no jutsu" -Shadow clone jutsu- Naruto yelled, two clones appeared on each side.
The two charged at the older man, trying to punch him. but the man quickly avoided the two clones' attacks, then stabbed them with a long kunai.
Two more clones appeared and charged at the man, who by that time had successfully removed his foot of the grabby ground. He ducked to avoid a punch by the first clone, then jumped to evade a kick from the other.
The man then grabbed one of the clones from the collar, and threw him onto the other clone; the two clones flew back, and then disappeared into a cloud of smoke upon hitting a tree.
But just as the man turned around, he found three of the blonde's clones attacking him. They went through an intense taijutsu battle, 3 to1. But in the end, the man turned out to be an expert in taijutsu, unfortunately for Naruto.
"Narutoooo!" he heard the girl's reassuring voice call as she raced to his aid.
"Ahhh Sakura-Chan!"
"CHAA!" the pinket yelled, pumping more chakra into her fist.
Her fist made contact with the man's face. And with her great speed, and enormous power, she sent him flying back, way back. He crashed straight through five large tree barks in a row, then finally settled in the 6th.
"Arigato, Sakura-Chan!" -Thanks-Naruto yelled excitedly.
"Aah -Yeah- my pleasure" she smiled back.
Meanwhile, the man surprisingly did not die; he pushed himself out of the tree, and nearly fell to his knees. He knew it would be a foolish thing to stay; he didn't have a prayer against the clone using kid, and freak of nature girl. He instantly started fleeing.
"He's getting away!" Sakura yelled interrupting Naruto's rambling.
"Well we won't let that happen" Naruto said, running after the guy.
The man led the two teens back to the edge of the forest, his speed had noticeably increased, Sakura quickly pumped chakra into her feet in order to catch up to the man. But for some reason, Naruto was unable to keep up with their speed. Suddenly Kakashi appeared in the way of the man, the later got confused and did not know what to do as the pink haired girl started to catch up, and continuing foreword was not an option.
"Good job!" Naruto yelled excitedly, abruptly stopping on a tree branch.
A smirk of content flashed on the man's face, he lifted two fingers in front of his face, focusing chakra. Kakashi immediately understood what was happening, "Be careful you two! He's gonna'…"
His sentence was cut short, when a series of explosions spread through out the forest. One of the pressure waves pushed Sakura off the branch; it caught her off guard so she didn't get a chance to get a grip. She gasped as she found that she was falling towards the nothingness of beyond the cliff.
"Sakura!" Both Kakashi and Naruto yelled jumping towards her.
Kakashi was the closest to her; he caught her in mid air then pulled her back to the tree branch. Naruto smiled as he saw Kakashi pull Sakura to safety, "Thank goodness" he breathed.
But suddenly, a second series of explosions accrued, the pressure waves quickly reached the three of them, Kakashi held Sakura tightly as he steadied himself on the tree with chakra grip.
But Naruto was in mid air when the pressure waves reached him, they pushed him about three meters front when he suddenly realized, he was in mid air, with nothing under him, and he was falling, and there was nothing for him to do.
By the time the explosion after effects were over, Naruto had already been pushed far away from the edge, and already started to fall.
"NARUTOOOO!" Sakura screamed, trying to jump after him.
But Kakashi held onto her tight, "It's no use Sakura" he told her.
"Naruto!" she screamed again reaching down, but she knew Kakashi was right, it's no use.
Kakashi turned away to see their target fleeing, he hated these situations, he hated them so.
"I… see…" Tsunade said slowly, her eyes to the ground. "So that's what happened"
"Aah" the masked ninja answered a pained look in his eye.
The pink haired teen remained silent, tears locked in her eyes, as did the black haired woman in the kimono. "Well…" Tsunade started, swallowing with great difficulty.
Silence took over the room once more; everyone was lost in their own world of thoughts. But the main theme for all of them was.. Naruto.
Konoha became a very quiet place, the mountains no longer ringed with the voice of the loud mouth blond; it was a very big loss to Konoha, that wasn't going to be forgotten very easily.
Many search expeditions were sent to look for Naruto, or at least his body. But none were successful either way. Even the Byakugan was no help. Eventually everyone surrendered to fate's choice, and reluctantly continued with their lives.
"Ohayou Shikamaru" -Good morning- a low voice said from behind.
He turned around slowly to see his best friend approaching him slowly, "Ohayou.. Chouji" he mumbled, unenthusiastically.
The two stood together, silently gazing in different directions. "Oi Shikamaru?" Chouji began.
The lazy genius turned to him silently and signaled that he was listening, "Do you.. Miss Naruto?" he asked sort of shy.
Shikamaru sighed, and leaned his head on the wall as he watched the clouds for a few moments, "Yeah" he finally answered.
"How.. How is Sakura-Chan doing?" Chouji asked his friend.
Shikamaru sighed again, "According to Ino, not very well" he answered still gazing at the sky.
Chouji hummed something in response; there was a brief moment of silence, "Ne, Shikamaru?" Chouji hesitated. -Ne is equivalent to 'Say, I think-
"Hmm?" Shikamaru turned to him with a questioning look on his face.
"Do you… do you think Naruto is still alive?" he asked.
Shikamaru sighed for the third time; he turned back to the clouds. He tried to imagine Naruto's giddy face in them; he got an image of a half fox half boy funny face, slurping a big bowl of miso ramen. He smiled calmly and closed his eyes.
"Aah"
It was always her. It was always her who hurt the most, whenever she gave her heart to someone, she ended up loosing it.
Knock-Knock-Knock "Sakura~ Ino's here.. she wants to talk to you" Knock-Knock-Knock.
Sakura didn't answer her mother, she buried her face in her fluffy pillow.
Knock-Knock "Sakura it's me, Ino.. Please unlock the door and let me in… Sakura"
Sakura ignored the voices outside the door, she lifted her pillow and put it over her head just incase.
Knock-Knock "Sakura are you in there? Sakura can you hear me? Please don't ignore me like this"
"…."
Bang-Bang "Dammit Sakura open this door right now! … Open this door now or I'll smash it!"
Sakura didn't answer, and she flipped over and gazed at the ceiling blankly.
Bang-Bang *Sigh* "Look Sakura.. I really want to help you, I know you're hurting, but I can't help you unless you let me in" Ino's voice came through the door, now in a gentle voice.
Nevertheless, Sakura continued ignoring the world, insisting on her solitude.
Tap-Tap "Sakura can you hear me?"
"…"
*Sigh* "Sorry Harono-Chan, I've got to go home now, but I'll come back again later" Ino said to Sakura's mother.
"It's alright Ino. Have a safe walk home"
"Aah… see you later Sakura" Ino said gently but got no response.
Sakura continued staring at the ceiling blankly, she -Ino- doesn't understand anything.. She still has Shikamaru and Chouji, nothing like this happened to her. She doesn't understand.
A tear trickled down her cheek and on to her pillow; she put her hands on her heart and squeezed her eyes shut as she flipped onto her side.
"Narutooo~"
Sayuri is a normal girl.
Sayuri is a normal girl that lives alone.
Sayuri is a normal girl that lives alone with her dog in the forest.
Sayuri goes every morning to fill some water from the creek, that gets its supply of water from the river.
And that's what she did that other day, "C'mon Bobo, Don't fall behind" Sayuri called skipping towards the creek.
The large dog barked back at her then ran over, she slowly walked to the creek humming to herself contently, not a problem in the world could reach her this deep into the forest. Nearly nobody ever entered this uninhabited area, I mean other than her.
She smiled at her dog as he joyfully played in the cool water, she filled the jug with the fresh water, then when she was finished, "C'mon Bobo I'm finished, let's go"
But Bobo didn't come, "Bobo? Where are you?" she called stepping in the water, careful not to slip and fall.
"Bobo?"
She heard her dog bark at a distance, "Bobo! Where'd you go you silly thing?" she said in a childish voice, pretending to be angry.
Her large pall popped out from behind a big boulder, he had something that looked like a sandal in his mouth, "Where'd you find that?" she crossed her brows as she cautiously stepped towards her dog.
She finally reached her dog; she pulled the sandal from his mouth, "Bobo! Why'd…" she stopped when she saw someone tangled in some weeds and twigs.
"Uh Ooh" she whispered, cautiously turning around the boulder.
She stared at the person, he had blond hair, his clothes were tattered, and he had a big gash on his forehead. She instantly started pulling at him, Bobo helped. She barely managed, but with the help of her dog, she dragged the boy out of the water.
She laid him on his back and looked at his face. She hesitated then leaned closer, she put her ear to his heart, it was still beating. She sat up and sighed. She felt relieved, she didn't know what she would have done if he had been dead, especially since she doesn't know CPR.
She stood up and crossed her arms, and brows.. Now how is she going to get him all the way back to her cabin? She could just leave him here to be found. But she knew that was highly unlikely, no one comes to this area. If she left him here he'd probably die, and that wouldn't be a very nice thing to do.
She collected some giant leaves and some sticks and twigs, and haphazardly weaved them together. She rolled the boy's body onto it, and started dragging it. It was a very long way home, and the rough road wasn't making her job any easier, -I'll leave it to your imagination- nevertheless she continued, she really wanted to help this stranger.
Sayuri finally made it back to the cabin. The boy was a bit bloody and bruised from the rough handling, and because she had dropped him a few times. She stopped in front of her front porch and sighed. She wiped a sweat drop from her forehead with the back of her hand then leaned back over the boy.
She grabbed him from behind, and dragged him with her arms under his. She felt every step under her guest, finally the very short set of stairs were over. She dragged the blond into a side guest room; she laid him down gently, then went to get a mattress.
As she quickly set up a sleeping place, she wondered to herself why she even had a guest room, it's not like she ever had any guests. She shrugged as she laid the boy on the blanket, and covered him.. Probably for situations like this.
For the next week, Sayuri tended to the weird guest. She would feed him, wipe his face, and so on. He would have nightmares, or what seemed like them to her. His eyes would race under their lids, and his lips would move with incomprehensible words, but eventually he'd settle.
She followed her usual routine that day. She had just came back after filling some fresh water, "Bobo you coming in?" she called pulling the large jug in the door.
But Bobo didn't bark back, "Bobo?" she turned around and looked into the yard, Bobo was no where to be seen.
She heard some noises coming from inside the cabin, "Bobo? When did you get inside?"
She followed the noises, it led her to the guest room, "Bobo, what did I tell you about…." She froze, "Oh my.. I mean…"
Her blond guest was sitting up, staring at the world with blank eyes, "Hey when did you.. ehm I mean, it's nice to see you awake"
He turned to her, "Who are you? where am I?" he asked.
"Oh my name is Sayuri, you're in my cabin in the forest.." she answered with a smile.
"How did I get here?" he asked, looking at his surroundings.
"I brought you here.. I found you in the creek injured, it's east from here" she answered sitting on her knees next to him, "Can I get you something?" she asked politely.
He turned to her confused for a moment, "Huh? Oh no thanks.." he continued studying the room, raking his brain.
"Do you remember what happened to you? How you got in the creek?" she asked fiddling with her fingers.
He shook his head, "Well then, what's your name?" she added.
He turned to her and gave her a puzzled stare, "My name?" he whispered thoughtfully.
He's supposed to know his name, his age, his home, where he came from, his family, and his friends, but all those details were lost. He turned back to the girl she was still waiting for an answer, "I.. I can't.. Remember"
A\N: Yeah I don't like where I stopped either, but oh well.. Hope you had fun.. I won't keep you waiting too long for the next chapter I hope.. Reviews are a must, so you must review.. Criticism is welcome.. Questions are answered, so ask if you have one.
A\N2: if anyone is interested in checking out the drawing I drew of Ume, the OC of eye of the wolf, check it out on deviant art, (Link will be on my profile page)