FLY AWAY- Part 1 : Evasion

Chapter 4

Sasuke dodged another flurry of kunai before jumping back a few meters to avoid Naruto's diving rasengan. Two shurikens missed his shoulder by an inch when he landed. He immediately unsheathed his katana to guard against a direct attack from the sixth Hokage. Sasuke pushed away Kakashi's kunai with a swipe of his sword and made to slice at his old sensei's legs, rapidly chaining with a backhand slash and tsuki thrust. The older shinobi avoided all his attacks but wasn't expecting his former pupil to plant his sword into the ground and use it as a support for a circular high kick. Kakashi reacted as fast as he could and blocked with difficulty. Sasuke used this opening to shift his hands' position on the hilt of his katana and do a back flip on it, powerfully kicking the silver haired Hokage in the chin. The movement sent Kakashi flying; his eyes widened upon recovering his fall and noticing the Uchiha finishing the Great Fireball Jutsu's hand signs.

However, the dark haired young man didn't have time to attack the former anbu as Sakura chose this moment to launch an offensive on him. His blood red irises shifted quickly to observe her movements and avoid all her chakra infused punches. He couldn't afford to take even one of them, even though this was still Sakura. He left his katana in its hostler this time and settled for a taijutsu duel but the green eyed girl was fast to show him his mistake. Grabbing a kunai from her item pouch, she obviously presented it way too close to his chest for him to block. Sasuke had barely a second to notice a smirk forming on her lips before she simply let go of her weapon and harshly punched him in the stomach. The Uchiha's astounded expression was priceless as he was violently sent flying, his back colliding hard into a tree and his breath knocked out of his lungs.

With Naruto and Kakashi still wrestling on the other side of the arena, Sakura took a minute to savor this small moment of victory. She appeared right before Sasuke's staggering form and placed another kunai on his throat, still smirking. "Don't underestimate me Sasuke-kun or next time I'll punch you through the tree."

Struggling to catch his breath, the young man saw her hand extending to take his bell and reacted in an instant. Making eye contact, his sharingan met her widening emerald gaze. Putting Sakura Haruno under genjutsu was no easy task considering her great predisposition in that domain, but it was one of Sasuke's special aptitudes. And although she dispelled the illusion a second later, it was enough for him to grab her wrists and force them behind her back, rendering her defenseless.

"Don't underestimate me, Sakura."

The medic winced at the uncomfortable position she was in, but Sasuke only held her tighter in fear that she would infuse chakra into her muscles to break free. He reached out for the bell on her waistband but was stopped when no less than a dozen shuriken were thrown his way. Resolved not to let go of Sakura, he stepped out of the way barely in time, receiving a few cuts on his left shoulder. His gaze shifted to the ground as he noticed a kunai at his feet, an explosive parchment attached to it.

Sasuke cursed under his breath. Acting on pure instinct, he threw Sakura over his injured shoulder in a hurry and jumped away just as the blast from the explosion resounded. He winced at the throbbing pain on his shoulder when he landed on a nearby tree branch. Despite her thin figure, Sakura's weight was a bit much for his new prosthesis. Sasuke clenched his teeth as he stepped back down less gracefully then he usually would have, a knee on the ground and the pink haired jounin crouching beside him.

"Don't chill out just yet!" Naruto's voice was heard from behind the cloud of dust produced by the deflagration.

Sasuke lifted up his eyes to face an impressive amount of shuriken and kunai flying rapidly their way. Swiftly drawing his kusanagi, he stood up and countered the attack with a lightning infused swipe of his katana. The Uchiha noticed Sakura armed with a kunai in each hand alongside him as she helped blocking the majority of the weapons. It didn't seem like the assault would stop though, whenever a wave was neutralized, another always followed immediately afterwards, more powerful and dangerous every time. Sasuke sent an explosive kunai back to its expeditor with a powerful slash of his sword, only to be confronted by three more a second later.

Cursing again, he unleashed a greater amount of chakra to fend off the three new incoming projectiles and a few others on the sides. 'This isn't good' he thought, his jaw tightening as he kept warding off the multitude of weapons 'We have to counterattack. If one of us blocks the weapons then the other should be able to assail the attackers, but Sakura can't use long range ninjutsu and she won't be able to repel all these by herself'. A cry of pain next to Sasuke brought him out of his thoughts. Glancing at Sakura, he saw her on the ground with two shuriken stuck in her shoulder and a kunai deep in her thigh. The young man cursed not so quietly this time and infused more chakra into his sword to increase its length and parry more efficiently. Now not only kunai and shuriken were thrown at them but also some large fuma shuriken and hardly visible senbon.

Breathless, Sasuke was expecting another assault but was surprised to see something much worse glinting behind the dust flying on the battlefield. A yell was heard on the other side as two razor sharp rasen shuriken soared dangerously fast towards the Uchiha and the pink haired medic. Obsidian orbs dilating, Sasuke analyzed the situation in a flash: he was unable to move fast enough to avoid Naruto's technique because of the senbons stuck everywhere on his body, he also couldn't leave Sakura defenseless behind him but carrying her away in this state was out of the question. Enraged, he opted for his only alternative:

"Susano'o!" The dark giant appeared in a flash of purplish light around its user, effectively shielding both him and Sakura from the attack. The blast echoed in the distance when the two rasen shuriken collided violently with the rock hard armor, unable to break it.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura limped to his side. She had had enough time to more or less heal the most prominent wound on her leg and had closed the deep gash even though blood was still dripping on her thigh. Besides that she still had many cuts on her body and face as well as some dark bruises on her calves. Sakura observed the many senbon planted in Sasuke's limbs, pushing back unwanted memories. "Are you okay?"

"Hn" he gave a short nod. Asking her the same question would have been pointless since he had just inspected her and concluded that she wasn't 'okay' for a training session standard.

"Ah ha!" Naruto appeared in front of them closely followed by Kakashi, both looking extremely pleased. Sasuke glared at the grinning blond as his Susano'o faded away.

"Don't give me that look teme! You lost again, you gotta get used to it!" Naruto bragged as he crossed his arms behind his head.

"Indeed" Kakashi added, fishing out a copy of Icha Icha Paradise from his item pouch. "The rules forbid you to use your mangekyou sharingan, therefore by summoning Susano'o, you are disqualified."

"But!" Sakura was outraged "Two rasen shuriken were too much! How were we supposed to defend ourselves against that!?"

Kakashi smirked under his mask, turning the pages of his book to find the passage he wanted, before replying to his former pupil. "Don't you remember the original goal of the bells exercise?" Upon receiving nothing but a blank look in response, Kakashi sighed, hid his face behind the orange cover of his novel and answered for her "Teamwork."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock, Naruto let out a stupid laugh and Sasuke glared harder. "That was all part of your plan" the latter said in a dark tone.

"Right on!" Naruto cheered, enjoying the sight of his rival's increasing frown. "Kakashi-sensei copied this technique of Tenten's some time ago and used it to overwhelm you guys so that I could throw two rasen shuriken –which ISN'T against the rules- and make Sasuke cheat by using Susano'o!"

"And in case you still didn't use it, we were free to retrieve your bells when you were knocked out after taking such a powerful direct attack" the sixth Hokage completed his former pupil's explanation.

"You could have killed us!" Sakura cried out, scandalized at her teammates' careless behavior.

Kakashi eyed her knowingly "We all know that it takes more than a rasen shuriken to bring any of us down. I bet you two wouldn't even have been completely K.O. after that."

He had a point. Sasuke and Sakura weren't just any shinobi, that was why they could put up with such an offensive.

"Ah!" Naruto suddenly interjected. "Sakura-chan you're bleeding!"

'You expected her to come out unscathed after this?' Sasuke thought, still fuming about the unfair tactic his former sensei and the ramen freak had used to take them down. Sakura gave the blond a phony smile before limping and stopping right in front of him. There, she looked up at Naruto with innocent eyes before punching him hard in the jaw.

Landing face first on the ground with a big thud, Naruto yelled "What the heck Sakura-chan!?" He sat up and massaged his painful cheek after spitting some dirt out of his mouth.

"You deserved it" she replied, a satisfied smile adorning her lips. Sasuke smirked in agreement but it quickly faded when he began pulling out the senbon stuck in his skin one by one.

"Ah! Sasuke-kun, let me help with that." The emerald eyed jounin quickly said upon noticing the Uchiha's struggle not to wince at the stinging pain inflicted by the needles.

Sasuke gave her a concerned look behind his bangs "Your leg."

"It can wait a few minutes, just sit down." She instructed, pointing at the ground.

"I'd like to stay a bit longer kids, but duty's calling. See you!" Kakashi interrupted out of the blue. He waved at his students and Naruto didn't even have time to ask him to wait before the silver haired man disappeared in a puff of smoke. The blond lay flat on his stomach in defeat.

"He never changes…" Sakura sighed tiredly. She glanced at the still standing Sasuke and pouted, making her way to him in a few labored steps. Once in front of him, the young woman put her hands on his shoulders and gave a strong push downwards to the ground, indicating him to sit once again.

He complied, repressing a sigh. While they silently removed the metal needles, Sasuke found himself observing her again. Sakura's arms were covered with cuts, just like her legs and face, but it reassured him that these wounds were only minor. Her small ungloved hands worked precisely from his shoulders to his elbows, particularly careful with his left arm. The medic focused her gaze on his injuries to heal them faster after the senbon were taken out, but the raven haired shinobi also noticed worry deep within her viridian eyes. Sasuke frowned a bit, then spoke with a carefully composed face.

"I'm fine Sakura, you should heal your leg now." In Sasuke language, it meant 'don't worry so much about me and take care of yourself for once'.

"I'm almost done" Sakura responded without looking up.

"What about me Sakura-chan? Can you fix me up afterwards?" Naruto mumbled, rolling over to face his two teammates.

Nothing but silence met his inquiry "C'mon, you're meeaaaan…" Sasuke was about to tell him to shut up when suddenly ruffling was heard in the bushes around the training grounds. Naruto stood up hastily, immediately alert for any sign of danger. He was surprised though, to find a pair of children running past the bush and straight to him.

"Wow! That was so awesome!" The first cheered, grabbing the lower part of the blond's shirt.

"Can you teach me that technique?" His companion asked eagerly, looking up at Naruto with big puppy eyes.

"Wh…What?" Naruto was quite puzzled at the sudden assault.

"And you with the weird headband!" the first brown haired boy pointed at the Uchiha on the ground. "What was that big purple thing? Can we learn it?"

Sasuke let out a bored 'tss' and resumed his previous activity. Sakura couldn't help the amused smile from forming on her lips as she helped him. It wasn't long before a dark clad jounin instructor appeared from behind the bushes with a third genin at his side, apologizing a thousand times over on his students' behalf. Naruto told him to relax with an uneasy smile on his face as the kids kept questioning him about his technique.

"I'm sorry, we were going to train here today" The jounin explained, bowing his head once more "But since you were already there when we arrived –only about twenty minutes ago, don't worry- and the kids wanted to watch you, we stayed until you were done, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry dude, as long as they enjoyed the show!" Naruto gave a toothy grin, ruffling one of the boy's hair. Unfortunately for him, they started bickering, screaming and gripping his shirt again right afterwards.

"About that jutsu!"

"Teach it to me!"

"No me!"

The children bounced around a bemused Naruto, making Sakura giggle lightly and Sasuke smirk. Most of the senbon had been taken out of his body so the Uchiha made to stand up but was forced down again by Sakura.

"I'm alright now…" he complained, eyeing her hand on his upper left arm.

"Just one more thing" the pink haired girl studied his face with a gentle look. The tip of her fingers glowed a light green as she slowly lifted her hand up to delicately brush against his cheek where a thin cut was still staining his pale skin with blood. Obsidian eyes widened slightly when the young shinobi realized the foreign gesture didn't disturb him, that he even liked the warmth of her soft touch. Sasuke was never fond of physical contact, so he would never admit it, but in that split second he had wished for Sakura's hand to linger on his cheek a bit longer, to feel more of this tender sensation that belonged to a deeply buried past. During the long months he was gone, Sasuke had forgotten how the kunoichi's comforting presence always soothed him and now that he finally remembered, he chastised himself for wanting this feeling to last.

Sakura withdrew her hand and tilted her head to the side in confusion at the strange look her raven haired teammate was giving her. Despite the disappointment he felt at the fleeting moment's end, Sasuke's eyes softened "Thanks." A smile instantly lit up the medic's face at this word.

It didn't take long for Sakura to heal her leg as well as her other injuries completely. Once she was done, Sasuke offered his right hand to pull her up, which she gladly accepted.

"I…I don't know guys…Rasen shuriken is kinda complicated you see…" Naruto stammered, still trying to nicely push away the three impatient genins around him.

"I'm not like these idiots, I'll manage!" One of the little boys boasted, pointing at his two comrades.

"Don't listen to him! Teach it to me!" Another pushed his teammate away, looking up at Naruto with eager green eyes.

"But…" The jinchuriki had no idea what to do. He gazed at the jounin instructor for help but the older man provided nothing more than an uneasy shrug. Naruto sighed and watched the boys excitedly jumping up and down in front of him with an apologetic look "…Maybe when you grow up guys, but not now sorry."

The three gaped in both disbelief and disappointment but the green eyed one was fastest to recover "Gah, you're no fun!" He placed his hands on his hips in a proud posture and turned to face Sasuke behind them "Hey you! Teach us the purple giant thing instead!"

The Uchiha glared, not liking the small boy's bossy tone in the slightest. He stole a glance at Sakura beside him; her eyes told him not to be too harsh. Repressing another sigh, he answered "No."

The pink haired medic almost facepalmed at that. Despite Sasuke's innate excellence at everything he did, he still had to improve his pedagogic skills greatly. The boy's voice became more high pitched with his rising temper "Why the heck not!? Tell me!"

The other two boys walked to join their comrade, mirroring his irritated frown. Sasuke sighed this once. He didn't want to waste his time with these annoying brats so he made his way to them and crouched down to be at eye level with the three genins.

He fixed his onyx orbs on them and spoke in his usual deep voice "You can't learn this jutsu…" Sasuke closed then slowly reopened his eyes to reveal his eternal mangekyou sharingan. The boys jumped at his unnatural blood red gaze "…unless you have eyes like mine."

The way he said it made the kids cower behind their green eyed friend who did his very best not to scurry away to his sensei. Sasuke smirked and stood up as his eyes turned pitch black again, though he didn't expect Sakura to come up to the group and nudge him in the ribs.

"Don't worry" she reassured the trembling boys, glaring at the raven haired young man from the corner of her eye. "He can be scary at times but he really isn't a bad guy."

"Hn" Sasuke grunted in slight annoyance and crossed his arms over his chest.

Naruto couldn't help but foolishly add "Just like you Sakura-chan."

After that Sasuke made a mental note not to ever let a comment like that carelessly slip out of his mouth unless he wanted to be sent flying half a mile away by one of Sakura's sucker punches.

The pink haired kunoichi and her remaining teammate retrieved a barely conscious Naruto on their way to town about a quarter of an hour later after they had parted with the jounin instructor and his pupils. When he finally regained his senses, the blond started rubbing his swollen cheek, unable to do more than mumble obviously painful apologies to the medic in hopes that she would heal him. Sasuke had to admit he felt a bit sorry for his best friend.

"Pleashe Shakura-shan…" Naruto slurred, wincing with every syllable.

"No." Both male members of team 7 knew how stubborn Sakura could be when she wanted to. But the fun was, they were the same as her.

"Shakura-shan…"

"I said no, Naruto" she spat, proudly lifting her chin up. She usually wasn't that nasty but he needed to pay a bit longer for what he had said.

The jinchuriki couldn't sigh in defeat because of the pain but instead lifted glittering puppy dog eyes to his old friend, resorting to his last asset "But Hinata-shan will be worriedsh…"

Sakura jumped slightly at the reminder of her teammate's girlfriend. She gazed sideways at Naruto to take in the bruises tainting every visible part of his body and his purple colored cheek . 'Hinata will definitely not like this…' she thought, biting her lower lip. If she saw him like this, the Hyuuga girl would most likely fuss worriedly around Naruto for a good thirty minutes and maybe even faint before forcing him to go to the hospital. It was only natural that Hinata would be concerned about her boyfriend's well-being, seeing the one you love in pain was never a pleasant thing. Sakura glanced at Sasuke then, but immediately looked away when his dark eyes met hers.

The medic suppressed the small blush on her cheeks and sighed "Alright, just sit down, I'll fix you up."

Naruto would have smile gleefully hadn't it been for his injury. He simply winked as she showed him to a nearby bench. The two sat down while the aloof Uchiha leaned on the border of it, his gaze fixed on the grayish winter sky.

"Don't move" Sakura instructed, her glowing palm reaching up to Naruto's injured cheek. Sasuke watched as she healed the blond with the same caution and worry she had displayed earlier, her eyes caring and soft like they had been to him in the training grounds. For some reasons he still could not explain, the burning sensation he had felt back with Kiba, Lee and Shino welled up inside him again. Sasuke averted his gaze and clenched his teeth a little tighter at the realization, though he was careful not to let anything show through on the outside. The dark haired shinobi knew he was being selfish as jealousy consumed him again. He hated the fact that he couldn't help wishing the hand Sakura placed on Naruto's shoulder after she was done was on his, that the gentle look in her viridian orbs would be for him alone and not for his stupid rival…

Naruto thanked her with a large grin and stood up energetically. However, the emerald eyed girl remained seated on the bench, turning around to see Sasuke seemingly deep in thoughts behind her. Sakura knew she didn't have very long before Naruto started babbling again so she summoned all her courage to bring up the subject that had been on her mind for days.

"Sasuke-kun… It's been more than a week since you came back…"

She saw the Uchiha's back tense only for a split second before he regained his composure.

"Hn" he replied, his back still facing her.

Naruto rapidly caught on the conversation "Yeah teme! How long do you plan on staying?" He asked cheerfully as always. Though when he saw Sakura's dreadful expression he promptly added "There's no rush you know! Just hang around here for as long as you please." The jinchuriki scratched the back of his head uneasily, realizing his blunder. He too didn't want to see his friend leave again for who knows how long, but he also knew the Uchiha's departures were always harder on Sakura.

Sasuke finally turned around and the pink haired medic quickly lifted neutral eyes to meet his, hiding as best as she could the apprehension he knew she felt. "I don't know yet…" Sakura's eyes flickered with joy at these words but she didn't let it show, or so she thought. The sharingan wielder noticed how she directed her gaze towards the ground and how her hand brushing a thin strand of pink hair behind her ear revealed a reassured smile. He frowned, knowing that he couldn't let her build her hopes up. "…I'll probably be gone by next weekend."

Sasuke wasn't surprised that only the howling of the wind blowing around them followed his announcement. He had to go, until he found redemption he wouldn't allow himself to stay and they all understood it. Sakura's eyes widening clearly showed that it shocked her to see him leaving so soon, especially knowing that he wouldn't be back in months, maybe years. Sasuke stared at her somehow apologetically for a bit longer until she stood up abruptly. Sakura remained still for a moment before flashing a gentle smile to both her teammates.

"I have to head back home, I still have paperwork left to do." She pushed back another windblown lock of hair behind her ear while her gaze lingered on Sasuke for a few seconds, as if memorizing the way the pale afternoon sun lit his features and how his messy dark bangs flew into his charcoal eyes. Her eyelids closed to visualize the picture engraved in her mind, then she spoke softly "It was nice training like that, I hope we can do it again next time!"

Without waiting for their reply, the pink haired jounin jogged away from them and turned around the corner of the street. Something was off, Naruto and Sasuke knew her well enough to see past her counterfeit smile.

The blond was first to voice his doubts, his tone low and suspicious "What's up with that phony smile?"

"…She only has Sundays off, right?" The Uchiha asked, staring downwards.

Naruto lifted an eyebrow in confusion at his comrade's inquiry "Yeah, why do you…Oh…" Realization hit him in the face and he mirrored his rival's glare at the ground.

What she had meant was that she would see Sasuke again months later, the next time he came back.

A.N/: I'm sorry for the late update, will it be more acceptable if I say that I had a big math test on Friday and had to spend my whole Thursday night revising? I had promised myself to update every Thursday in tribute to the original Naruto manga/anime but I only lasted three weeks... No worries though, chapter 5 will be up next Thursday without fail!

As always, thank you for the follows, reviews and favorites! This chapter had a little more action, I intend to keep it that way in the following chapters with a mix between calm periods and fighting.

Feel free to tell me what you thought about this chapter in a review, I read them all~