Title: Anonymity
Summary: It was when she was on the brink of death that he realized what she had meant to him.
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto.
Dedicated to my best friends, Ema and Angela.
Chapter Two
"Man, I'm hungry. I wish Juugo would hurry up and bring us back some food," Suigetsu complained airily, waving around his empty water bottle. "I'm all beat from yesterday's fight. If only you had let us kill them, Sasuke. It would have been much easier to chop off their heads instead of leaving them half-dead," he continued to rant, ignoring the warning looks his red-headed teammate sent his way.
"Suigetsu! Shut up!" Karin hissed, pointing towards a sleeping Sasuke. "You'll wake him up! You know how grumpy he is when-". She was cut off when Sasuke abruptly woke up, his head nearly colliding with Karin's. "Oh, Sasuke!" Karin's menacing tone immediately became soothing and girly. "I was just telling Suigetsu not to wake you…" Her voice faltered again when she realized the raven-haired man wasn't even paying attention to her. Huffing grumpily, she got up from her spot on the floor and went to sit on a chair. "Juugo better come back soon," Karin said, seething.
As if on cue, the door slammed open with a crash of lightning, revealing a dripping Juugo. He shuffled awkwardly towards the only bed in the cramped room, and laid something down on it.
"What'cha got there, Juugo? Food?" Suigetsu asked hopefully, peering over his teammate's broad shoulder. He instantly broke out into hysterical laughter when he saw what it was. "Hey, Sasuke, come check this out!" Suigetsu managed to get out in-between laughs. "Big guy over here brought the enemy right into our base!"
Alarmed, Karin jumped up from her seat, ready for battle, only to sigh and slump back into her chair as she saw how much the enemy's blood was already staining the floor near the bed. "He's obviously not going to live for much longer,"she grumbled, annoyed with her teammates. "And, really, what were you thinking, Juugo? You should've just let him die, seeing that now we're encumbered with the extra burden of having to bury him later," she chided, clicking her tongue.
"It's a girl," Juugo mumbled gruffly, laying a blanket softly on her barely breathing form.
"I can't tell with that freaking cat mask on her face. But, male, female, what does it matter? She's about to die anyway," Karin retorted, waving her hand around nonchalantly.
"I'm curious," Suigetsu began, a wide grin splitting his face, "on how you know it's a girl, Juugo."
Reddening a bit, Juugo managed to stammer out, "Her mask was on the ground when I found her, and I just fastened it back on her face when I carried her back."
"Do you have a crush on the little ANBU chick?" Suigetsu asked, prodding the bigger man with his elbow. He took Juugo's deepening blush as an affirmative to his question.
"Suigetsu! Juugo! Now isn't the time to play around!" Karin lectured. "Anyway, what should we do about her, Sasuke?"
From his vantage point, Sasuke could clearly see the diminutive body on the mattress, and he narrowed his black eyes as he noticed it was the same ANBU member he had struck with his Kusanagi last night.
'HARUNO-SAN! BEHIND YOU!'
He couldn't be sure over the pouring rain…
But maybe he hadn't misheard after all…
"Juugo," Sasuke drawled, drawing the attention of all three people in the room. "Remove her mask."
A hollow pang resounded from within Sasuke's body as the mask was slid off, revealing sickly pale skin and blood-covered pink locks. Widening his obsidian orbs that betrayed despair of the rawest form, he stumbled towards the bed, pushing through Juugo, Suigetsu, and Karin. He collapsed at the foot of the bed, his knees now drenched with her blood.
"Why…" Sasuke whispered, his voice rough with emotion. The back of his hand brushed her blood-caked cheek softly.
'Why were you there?'
'Why are you an ANBU?'
'Why are you the one that I tried to kill?'
'Why did it have to be you?'
'SAKURA!'
"Karin," Sasuke called out, a little above a whisper.
"Y-Yeah?" she stammered, confused with his actions, but walked towards him nonetheless.
"Heal her." His eyes were still trained on the unmoving body on the comforter.
"… E-Excuse me?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was he actually telling her to save the enemy? It couldn't be.
"Heal her. Can you do that?" This time, he turned around, facing Karin, and the redhead almost did a double take. The sorrow and anguish palpable in those dark, dark eyes was too overwhelming for her to bear.
'Just who is this girl to Sasuke?'
"I'll try my best." Karin gulped and slid her sleeve up, revealing permanent bite marks, and waved her arm in front of the female's face a couple of times. "It won't work if she doesn't bite down and absorb my chakra," Karin stated matter-of-factly, dropping the sleeve.
"I thought you could also heal like those medics do," Suigetsu hinted, smirking.
"I was about to do that next," Karin replied stiffly, glaring openly at the white-haired male.
"Of course you were," Suigetsu muttered under his breath, but it was intentionally loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
Ignoring her teammate's snide remark, Karin laid her glowing hands right above the girl's injury. Even though her abilities as a medic were nothing to boast about, she could tell that this was no flesh wound, and even if she depleted her chakra (which she had no intention of doing), she was still going to die. She turned her head towards Sasuke, about to tell him it was completely hopeless to heal her, when she froze. The azure hue died from her hands, and she quickly activated the jutsu again, keeping her red eyes trained on the wound as she tried to reorganize her scrambled thoughts.
She had seen it.
She had definitely not imagined it.
That single drop of water sliding down his cheek.
Sasuke had shed a tear for this girl.
'Just who are you?'
"Sasuke. This isn't going to work. I don't have enough chakra to heal her. She's going to…" Karin stopped short when a hand was placed on top of hers and she realized with a start that no, he wasn't trying to comfort her for her lack of ability, but rather save the girl by channeling his chakra into her healing jutsu. Even though her chakra sensing wasn't turned on, she could make out the distinct current of feelings that came rushing with his chakra.
Grief…
Distress…
Torment…
Passion…
…
And was that just a hint of love?
Karin shook her head, ridding the troubling thoughts. Sasuke wouldn't love such anyone besides her.
'… Would he?'
Eventually, with the help of Suigetsu and Juugo, the wound closed, and the girl's life was snatched from the hands of Death.
All three members of Team Hebi fell asleep due to exhaustion, and the last thing Karin saw before she shut her eyes was Sasuke holding the girl's hand, still kneeling besides the bed.
Karin woke up to the smell of cooked fish, and rubbing her eyes, she took the fish on the stick offered by Juugo. "Where's Sasuke?" she asked after gulping down the fish in three bites.
Juugo wordlessly pointed towards the bed.
Sasuke hadn't moved the whole night.
Sakura's finger twitched slightly, and she tried to frown when she noticed pressure on her hand, only to cringe when the muscle protested viciously from lack of use. Cracking one hazy emerald eye open, she squinted at the ceiling.
'This doesn't look like my bedroom or the hospital… Just where am I?'
Remembering about the pressure on her hand, she glared downwards, when midnight black hair came into her peripheral vision. She knew of only one person to have that kind of hair.
Memories came rushing back to her foggy head.
ANBU assassination mission…
Terribly, terribly wrong…
Sword…
Stabbing…
Blood…
Red…
'SHARINGAN!'
With a jolt, the pink-haired kunoichi jerked her hand away, waking him up. Shaking in fear, she tried to get up from the bed, but failed when her muscles refused to comply and gasped in pain.
"You shouldn't try to move." Sakura all but froze when she heard his voice. Turning her head reluctantly to the right, she came face to face with him for the first time in three years.
Sasuke.
Screaming in horror, she managed to find the strength to back up against the wall, trying to distance herself from him. Panting heavily, she clutched one fist to her chest, and the other splayed out in front of her, as if to protect herself.
"Don't come any closer!" the pink-haired kunoichi begged, panic in her eyes. Sasuke knit his eyebrows together, confused. His teammates soon ran to his side, puzzled by the scream they heard.
"What's wrong? The chick woke up?" Suigetsu asked, scrutinizing Sakura.
"She must be crazy," huffed Karin, readjusting her glasses.
Sakura stared at the four apprehensively, and screamed again when Sasuke tried to reach out to her. Frustrated, he left the house, and the sound of toppling trees soon filled the vicinity. Suigetsu and Juugo went out to calm him down, and left Karin alone with Sakura.
Karin glared daggers at the smaller girl, wondering what the heck Sasuke saw in her for him to save her.
"I can't believe he stayed by your bed for a whole week, waiting for you to wake up, just so you could scream bloody murder when you saw him," the redhead muttered under her breath spitefully.
Sakura only continued to stare at the door tensely where he had exited.
With the scent of grilled fish wafting to her nose, Sakura's stomach growled involuntarily. Earlier, she had refused the food offered to her by Sasuke by slapping it out of his hand, and now, she was paying for it.
"Here. I thought you might be hungry," a gruff voice said, snapping her out of her reverie. She glanced up at the immense man before fixedly looking back at the fish, her stomach growling once again. Snatching it from his hand hastily, she murmured a quick thanks before devouring it in four bites. Juugo smiled slightly at the petite girl's appetite, and wanted to continue talking to her, but froze when he felt two furious Sharingan ingrained on his back. Knowing he would be only digging his grave if he continued talking to Sakura, he walked away from her, and sat down near the fire where more fish were being roasted.
All eyes were on the Uchiha when he grabbed a fish and approached Sakura, handing her a fish casually. She narrowed her eyes and seethed, promptly smacking the fish out of his hand once again, even though her stomach protested.
More innocent trees fell.
And Karin was positively livid.
'Why does Sasuke even put up with her?'
Oops, I missed my deadline by a month.
Sorry.
This wasn't beta'd, so excuse any mistakes you find.
