Chapter 2
The next morning everyone awoke and put away they're tents quickly. Sakura had emerged a few minutes after everyone else and looked around. Suigetsu spoke first as he rolled up his tent.
"Morning Cherry blossom, nice bruise."
Sakura had almost forgotten all about the scar and bruise on her neck, both of which Sasuke had inflicted the day before. Sasuke looked at her noticing the large bruises all along her throat. They were large and purple, as well as a small clotted scar that was visible beside one of the bruises. He didn't want to admit that he felt guilty when he saw the damage he had inflicted upon her. Instead he pushed the emotion aside and began to take down his tent. Everyone stopped when they were doing when a strange slow pulsing noise was heard from Sakura's direction. They each watched in amazement as she tilted her head to the side and a green light was emitting from her hand healing the bruises and the scar.
She finished a moment later looking around at the four who were staring at her.
"So you're a medic Nin then?"
Karin asked her voice filled with annoyance. Sakura nodded and turned around to face Sasuke, to her surprise he was staring at her. After a lingering moment of staring into each others eyes Sakura snapped out of her trance.
"Ano…Sasuke-kun can I have your arm please."
He lifted his arm for her to take. Sakura bit her lip and gently pulled the white sleeve back up to his elbow revealing the skin and arm protector he had on underneath. Gently resting her hand underneath his forearm she began to heal it with the other. Sasuke could feel a strange tingling feeling in his arm start to take place. Sakura was staring down at his arm concentrating on healing it. He could feel her chakra flowing into him. It made his stomach do a flip. He continued to watch her as she healed him. Sakura's heart was beating fast in her ears. She ignored the sensation of touching him so gently and kept at what she was doing.
A few minutes later she finished putting the muscles together in his arm and stepped back from him. She had felt guilty for leaving him in pain all night and looked up at him with apologetic eyes.
"It should be fine now Sasuke-kun."
He moved his arm around thankful it no longer hurt and was now fixed. He nodded at her and turned to finish putting the tent away not bothering to say thank you. The others were silent while they watched them, feeling like they were intruding on something private. Karin was starting to emit intent to kill towards Sakura. 'I'll get you for this you little bitch, Sasuke will be mine!'
The day was long because they were traveling the entire time almost never stopping. Sasuke had been staying by Sakura's side the entire time she was with them. He said to himself that he needed to stay by her side to make sure she wouldn't run away but for some reason he knew there was a bit more to it. He wanted to be beside her. He tried to ignore the feeling but it wouldn't go away. Sakura didn't mind since he was the only one she knew and was comfortable around, she had other reasons as well of course, she still loved him after all.
"Lets take a break I need to rest." Suigetsu stopped and sat down on a log grabbing his water container. Juugo, Sasuke and Sakura all sat down joining him.
"You're so lazy Suigetsu! It's all because of that stupid sword." Karin stood in front of the log with her hands on her hips annoyed.
"Well it is heavy but I'm getting a lot more used to it so stop complaining Karin and just rest for a moment."
"Why shou-"
"Both of you stop arguing." Sasuke interrupted her.
"Hmph."
She looked the other way and sat down on the edge taking a seat beside Suigetsu.
"I wonder how much further until we find him." Suigetsu said.
"Well since we have no idea about his whereabouts or where the Akatsuki base is it could be a long time." Karin spat out.
"It doesn't matter. We'll keep looking until we find him." Sasuke said staring into the distance. Sasuke noticed Sakura shift beside him. He thought nothing of it until a thought popped into his head, 'Wait…what if she knows something about him…' Sasuke looked at her catching her eyes with his. She swallowed and quickly looked away from him finding a piece of bark on the log rather amusing.
"Sakura."
Everyone looked over to the two wondering what Sasuke was going to say. She didn't answer him instead she continued to pull at the bark.
"Do you know something about Itachi?"
She sighed and looked at Sasuke, wondering what she should tell him if anything at all. "I might."
"What do you know?"
They were all intrigued, mainly because she, a kunoichi who seemed too soft to be a shinobi, somehow knew something about one of the most criminal Shinobi in the world.
"Well first of all if you wanted to meet him then you should have just stayed with Naruto."
"Who the heck is that?" Suigetsu asked
"That blond haired kid that showed up yesterday." Karin said annoyed at Suigetsu's lack of attention to details.
Sakura was too concentrated on Sasuke's response and expression to bother responding to either of them.
"Why do you say that?"
"Well I might as well tell you." She took a deep breath and began to explain. "You obviously know that Itachi is a part of Akatsuki. Well Akatsuki are trying to gather all the Jinchuuriki, or Bijuu, for what purpose I'm not really sure."
"What is a Bijuu?" Juugo asked.
Surprised that he spoke but not minding to answer the question she replied, "A Bijuu is a container, if you will, for one of the Jinchuuriki. There are nine Jinchuuriki all together, each with a different number of tails which they are so named."
"Wait aren't Jinchuuriki those demon animals that have an immense amount of chakra as well as unusual chakra." Karin asked.
"Yes, Naruto is one of the Bijuu as is Garra of the dessert."
"Who?" Suigetsu asked. Sakura ignoring the question because she knew he didn't know them anyway.
"Each Akatsuki member is given a specific Jinchuuriki to hunt and bring back, and it just so happens that Itachi was assigned the Kyuubi, or in other words to Naruto."
"Sakura have you seen Itachi recently?"
She bit her lip and looked into his eyes, "Sasuke-kun I have seen him a couple times in the last few months but he has no pattern or anything since it's never in the same spot or area. he just shows up and we are forced to fight him, he is very strong."
"Well then if you have run into him you can tell us something useful to make the fight against him a little easier." Suigetsu replied.
Sakura looked at him, "Why should I tell you anything?"
"Because it would make me killing him that much easier." Sasuke said.
She looked at him with sympathetic eyes, 'Sasuke-kun I don't want you to fight him unless you can for sure beat him…otherwise...'
"Any information you can give us will be helpful." Juugo said.
She sighed breaking off the piece of bark she had been fiddling with before. "Uchiha Itachi is a genjutsu type shinobi who uses an advanced form of doujutsu called Mangekyou Sharingan."
"What the heck is that?" Karin asked.
"The Mangekyou sharingan is the advanced form of Sharingan and can only be accrued by completing a certain task."
"What task? Can I do it?" Suigetsu asked.
Sakura seemed annoyed at his ignorance, "No you can't, only an Uchiha who has activated the sharingan would be able to attain it, but most do not have the, how shall I say, potential."
Sasuke was a little disturbed at how much she seemed to know about his clan all of a sudden. But continued to listen none the less making sure she didn't let go too much information.
"Alright then what is the condition?" Karin asked.
"That is not really important, what is important is what happens when Itachi uses his Tsukuyomi on a person."
"What is the Tsukuyomi?" Juugo asked.
She looked at Sasuke remembering the time he was in the hospital for so long because of the Tsukuyomi. "It is a powerful technique used against the opponent to break down the spirit. When Tsukuyomi is used on you, you go into a different sort of world or dimension where you cannot control yourself or your surroundings. You are then tortured for 72 hours straight. However the problem with Tsukuyomi is that the victim's body and mind can't tell that it's not real or that the 72 hours was, in reality only a mere second long. So after a second of being in Tsukuyomi everyone around you is fine and you are crippled. As you could imagine it would be difficult if not impossible to fight after that."
"Holly crap! This guy can do that?!" Suigetsu asked.
Sakura nodded, "However there are great risks to the user for using Mangekyou Sharingan."
Sasuke seemed to be interested in this most of all since there were never any writings of the side effects or the dangers.
"Like what?" He asked.
"Well to use Mangekyou Sharingan it takes up a lot of chakra to perform, so if the user uses it for too long it could cause him to run out of chakra quickly or cause damage. As well since it is a doujutsu it puts a lot of strain on the cornea of the eyes ...and well…"
"What Sakura?" Sasuke asked.
She paused for a moment, "Sasuke-kun, Itachi is slowly going blind."
He was surprised by this bit of information. He stared at her for a moment digesting what she had just told him. He turned his gaze to the ground again thinking.
"Awesome! That means he will be easier to defeat then!" Suigetsu said.
Karin and Juugo were both sitting and thinking along with Sasuke as well. Karin stole a glance at the pink haired Kunoichi at the other end of the log, 'She is really smart isn't she…'
"We should keep moving, let's go." Sasuke said standing up suddenly.
Everyone nodded and jumped away a second later leaving Sasuke and Sakura behind as she stood up.
"Sakura."
"Yes Sasuke-kun?"
He turned to her staring down into her green eyes, "Arigato."
She stood up straighter when she heard him say it. Suddenly his voice from when they were younger came into her mind echoing in from behind her. Sakura swallowed and nodded her head once. "You're welcome Sasuke-kun."
They took off a moment later, Sasuke after Sakura and continued until night. They each sat around the fire once again waiting for the fish to cook. There was a thick black storm cloud coming in over head.
"Looks like it is going to rain, too bad we only have one tarp and it's barely big enough to cover the tents." Suigetsu commented looking up at the sky. Juugo stood up a moment later heading over to the tents and started setting up the tarp silently.
Sakura looked up seeing a rod of lightening come down in the distance, 'It's going to be a cold night tonight, and the temperature has already dropped a couple degrees.' Sasuke watched her as she silently grabbed her knees and pull them to her body squeezing them into her.
"Hope you guys have an extra blanket, it's going to be cold tonight." Karin commented to no one in particular as she grabbed her cooked fish.
"Sasuke are you actually going to sleep outside again? You'll freeze." Karin stated.
Sakura only then realized it, 'Oh no, either Sasuke or I will be sleeping outside but…if he sleeps outside then he'll catch a cold, and so will I if I sleep outside, but…' She looked over to him eating his fish and not responding. 'I would rather I was outside so he wouldn't catch a cold.'
Juugo, now finished with the tarp, sat down grabbing his fish also, "Sasuke if you sleep outside then you'll catch a cold."
"No matter, can't Sakura just heal him?" Suigetsu asked. Sakura looked at him with a weird expression. It was the first time any of them had used her name; she shook her head, "No, unfortunately Medical Shinobi can't heal viruses. They are a bit different then open wounds, poisons, internal bleeding and bruises. Viruses can only be treated with time, rest and medicine."
Sasuke didn't bother answering anyone instead he continued to eat. It started to rain when everyone was going to bed. Karin was the first to go after offering to share her tent with Sasuke. He snarling at her with a disgusted expression and ignoring his reaction, she went to her tent. Suigetsu and Juugo went to sleep right after her. "Hope you don't catch a cold Sasuke."
Suigetsu said before zipping up his tent. Sasuke walked over to his tent and opened the zipper waiting for Sakura, just like the night before. Sakura slowly got up staring at the ground as she walked, 'Maybe I can…'
"Sasuke-kun if you want I can sleep outside. If we run into Itachi and you have a cold it would be a disadvantage for you, I don't min-"
"No Sakura, now get in." She put her head down looking at his feet standing about a foot in front of hers. She felt a rain drop on the top of her head a moment later and looked up at him. "Do you need a blanket then?"
He paused for a moment looking at her, he felt a rain drop on his nose and he blinked, "I'll be fine Sakura, now go to sleep." Defeated she nodded and went into the tent hearing him zip it up. She sighed and got under the covers after removing her shoes. She noticed there was one more blanket in the tent then there was the night before. 'Sasuke-kun, did you put this in here?' She felt guilty for taking his bed and blankets, 'If he trusted me then he could at least stay warm tonight.' There was a loud thunder strike all of a sudden then the sound of rain started to thicken. The tarp covering the tents was keeping her dry but she was having a hard time sleeping anyway. 'Sasuke-kun please keep warm.'
Some time in the middle of the night Sakura awoke to the sound of a very loud thunder strike. She sat up clutching the blanket in her hand. 'When did I fall asleep?' She could hear the loud thick sound of the rain. 'It must be pouring outside.' She shivered feeling the cold bite of the air. 'Sasuke-kun, are you alright?' Her mind was racing she wanted to know if he was alright or if he was warm. 'Wait! What if he actually did go into Karin's tent and he just didn't want the others and me to know about it?' She felt a stab of jealousy in her stomach thinking about the possibility. She thought about it further and shook her head, 'No way what am I thinking, Sasuke-kun would never be interesting in a girl like her.' There was another loud thunder strike and she lay back down lying on her side making sure to cover herself with both blankets trying to keep warm. 'Or would he?' She sighed thinking about the possibility when the sound of a zipper reached her ears. She sat up fast watching as Sasuke stepped into the tent and removed his sandals quickly zipping the tent up behind him.
He turned around to face her water dripping off of him every where. Sakura was shocked to see him but his appearance was more surprising. "Sasuke-kun you're soaked!"
His hair was flat and dripping onto his skin. His clothes looked heavy with water and he was shivering slightly. Sakura didn't even think about what to do she just reached into her bag taking out a towel and moved closer to him.
"Sasuke-kun you need to get out of your clothes or your going to freeze!"
Still shivering he nodded not bothering to argue with her. Sakura was too distracted with getting him warm to realize her inner voice was screaming with joy that he wasn't with Karin and instead was with her. Sasuke grabbed on to the shoulder of his shirt and slipped it off pulling it down his arm. Sakura watched for a moment mesmerized as he took off his shirt. A moment later she realized she was staring at him and turned her face away to give him some privacy, however little it was. Sakura felt her cheeks start to burn then a shirt came into her view. She grabbed the shirt out of his hand and went to the entrance to wring it out. After getting out as much water as she could she placed it to the side where it wouldn't be in the way.
Turning back to face him she took the towel she was holding and wrapped it around hi his shoulders. She tended to him as if he was a patient in need of a doctor making sure he was as dry as possible. The only problem was she couldn't help but notice his well-built body and perfect definition. He was lean and strong, her cheeks continued to burn as she helped him. She took the towel and draped it over his head after getting all the moisture off his upper body. She began to massage the top of his head making his hair dry. Sasuke looked down at her just a few inches in front of him when a memory came back into his mind.
FLASHBACK
"Okasan?" Little Sasuke ran through the house having finished his bath and was now looking for his mother carrying his towel in his hand, his hair still dripping wet.
"Okasan?"
"In here Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke ran into his living room to find his mother sitting by the fire that winter night reading a book. His father and Itachi were both on a mission and Sasuke had her all to himself.
"There you are Okasan, I was looking for you."
"Sasuke-kun come here please."
He walked up to his mother smiling up at her. She grabbed the towel from his hand and draped it over his head beginning to massage the top of his head making his hair dry. He blushed looking up at her with the cutest annoyed expression.
"Okasan, its fine."
"No it's not Sasuke-kun, you need to dry your hair properly otherwise you will catch a cold."
"I'm inside, how can I catch a cold?"
"Because your head is cold thus it takes your body temperature down and it's even a cold night so you don't want to take any chances." She removed the towel a moment later smiling down at her blushing son.
"That's better Sasuke-kun, now you can sit with me if you would like."
"Un!"
END FLASHBACK
He stared down at the pair of green eyes inches in front of him watching her intently. A moment later she removed the towel from his head and draped it around him.
"That's better Sasuke-kun."
She only then realized just how close they were and felt her cheeks turn hot. She looked up at him blushing profusely, "Ano, Sasuke-kun you're still shivering. Maybe you should get under the covers."
He nodded and lay down lifting the two blankets and getting under them. Sakura watched as he continued to shiver. 'Sasuke-kun at least you will be warmer now.' She followed him and got under the blankets beside him makins sure to keep what distance she could. She looked around the tent noticing there was really only enough room for one person thus making her body and his closer together. She could feel him shivering still behind her. She sighed and was about to say something to him when she felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her closer to the other side.
She froze. Normally if some one had done such a thing to her she would punch them and tell them to get lost, but this was different, it was Sasuke who was doing it to her. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck making her shiver.
"Cold?"
"Umm…n-not really."
"Then why are you shivering."
She swallowed hard, "N-No reason."
There was a long pause of silence. Sakura felt awkward but she could feel his shivering was slowing down, the feel of his bare skin behind her made her mind wander, she tried to suppress her thoughts but lost the battle when her inner self intervened. "Ano…Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn."
"Are you warmer now?"
She could feel him nod behind her, "Aa."
She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in and relaxed her body expecting him to let her go. A long moment passed and he still held her close to him. Sakura opened her eyes wondering if he was going to let go at all. She breathed in to ask him but stopped when she heard the sound of rhythmic breathing behind her. 'Is he already asleep?' She smiled grabbing onto his hand, which was resting on her waist. 'Sasuke-kun have a good sleep…I love you.'
She closed her eyes happy that he decided to continue to hold her. Sakura fell asleep smiling, feeling warmer then she had anytime that night.
Sakura slowly opened her eyes the next morning looking at the side of the tent. She went to lift her hand to rub the sleep out of her eyes when she remembered what had happened the night before. She looked down hoping to see Sasuke's arm across her waist but was saddened to find that it was not there. She turned around looking behind her but found only an empty spot. She reached a hand over to touch the spot and realized it was still warm. 'Maybe he only just got up.' She sat up rubbing the sleep out of her eyes then stretching. She heard the sound of a crackling fire outside her tent and decided to get up.
Sasuke had only just finished drying his shirt by the fire and put it on when he heard a zipper sounding from across the fire. He looked up to see a pink head of hair poke out from his tent and he continued to watch as she got out. She stood up, they're eyes meeting. She felt her cheeks get hot remembering the night before. 'I was so warm with his arms around me.'
She took a step forward noticing he was wearing his shirt and it was now dry. She cleared her throat, "Sasuke-kun."
"Hn."
She was now in front of him, her face more red then it started out. She turned her face to look at him in the eyes.
"Ano…about last night I-"
She stopped abruptly when another zipper was heard and they both looked over to see who it was.
"Well looks like you two are already up." Suigetsu got out of his tent going straight to putting it away. Sakura swallowed and looked back to Sasuke with sympathetic eyes. They both seemed to understand that the moment was lost now and she nodded as if agreeing in a silent conversation with him turning on her heel heading over to the tent to start packing it up, Sasuke following behind.
Karin and Juugo emerged from they're tents a couple minutes later packaging up they're tents in turn. They set off once again after covering they're tracks so they couldn't be followed.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE SAID HE WOULD KILL HER?!" Tsunade stood up banging her hands hard against the desk, her temper coming to a boil. Naruto and Kakashi were standing on the other side of the desk giving her the details of the mission. Kakashi had finally gotten to the part about Sasuke's threat to kill Sakura if they went after him again.
"NARUTO!"
"Hai."
"You know the Uchiha best do you think he would actually do it?"
Naruto looked to the ground remembering the blank expression on Sasuke's face as he squeezed Sakura's delicate neck between his fingers. "I honestly don't know this time Tsunade-no-baa-chan." He said it quietly. Ever since Sakura had been captured by Sasuke, Naruto had not been acting like himself. He was now quiet and pensive all the time. He hadn't even said anything about Raman since they got back. Kakashi was worried about him, but knew why he was like that and didn't really know what to say about it.
Tsunade was fuming on the other side of her desk. She loved Sakura like she was her own daughter and the prospect of her being killed by a former leaf shinobi, one which she knew Sakura still loved, was only fueling her anger. She gripped the top of her desk harder feeling the wood start to crack beneath her grip. Kakashi and Naruto looked at her hands seeing the wood crumple underneath them. They each took a step back.
Tsunade needed to get her apprentice back, she couldn't have her out there with the Uchiha and his team of hooligans, it was too dangerous there were too many uncontrolled factors, not to mention that she knew what he was after, Uchiha Itachi. She knew Sakura had run into him a couple times before but when she was with Kakashi and Naruto she trusted the situation a lot more. The problem was she couldn't trust the Uchiha especially if he said he would kill her. Even Naruto, the person who knows him best, didn't know whether he was bluffing or would actually do it.
"ALRIGHT! Here is what we are going to do!"
Well that is chapter two I hope you guys like it. I am going to try and put up a new chapter every week. I know what it's like to be held in suspense of wanting to know what is going to happen next in a story and they don't update for FOREVER! But it doesn't make the story any less good :D Please review, it's great to hear everyone's opinion on the story. THANKS!