Rin- Heh heh heh... I'm sorry for the late update, but I DID have exams for my A levels... (England for those of you who don't know about A levels... they're MURDER made up by the government to KILL OFF all the 16-18 year olds!) ahem... so yeah...
Sakura- Quit moaning, at least your life doesn't depend on success.
Rin- How do you know?! Have you MET my mother?!
Sakura- No... But she can't be THAT bad can she?
Rin- mutters darkly
Sakura- Whatever, Rin doesn't own us! If she did she'd have moved out already-
Rin- And be living in a HUGE house!
Kisame hauled his sword onto his shoulder and glared at Itachi with his shark-like eyes.
"Then we'd better go now, while they're recovering from that fight."
"Ah... my shoulder?"
"You can manage, right? Or are you too weak?"
Itachi glared at his Akatsuki partner coldly.
"I'll manage."
"Come on Naruto, we'd better get somewhere dry."
"Sakura-chan, can I ask you something?" He said, while pulling himself up to a standing position. The girl turned in surprise.
"Is this about our new teammate?"
"Ah... no."
She carried on walking to the edge of the lake; "Go on then Naruto, spit it out."
"Do you still believe that you're worthless?"
She stopped and stood still, facing the wall. How should she answer that? She didn't even think that she knew the answer herself!
Do I still believe that I'm worthless...?
I think you are!
You're not me.
Touché!
"I... Don't. Not worthless... anymore." She reached the water's edge and sat on a ledge of rock, leaning against the wall and looking at her hands. "Tsunade-sama... Elder Chiyo... and you, Naruto... you all seem to believe that I'm stronger than I am but... I'm not weak anymore, so while I may not be proud, I am satisfied." She remembered Elder Chiyo's last words to her, that she would become a greater kunoichi than her master... That wasn't likely but it gave her hope, that someday... maybe she could call herself a good ninja. Elder Chiyo had seen something inside her... she just needed to know what.
"I hope that you will be proud again soon Sakura-chan." She looked up and saw him standing before her, completely sincere if a little embarrassed. "Like before."
Before? When she'd been completely conceited about her own intelligence? When in reality she'd been useless? How could he- how could anyone want that person back?
"Hmm... maybe." Was all she said, but her clenched fists and angry eyes, carefully hidden from him, said different.
Sai wasn't happy. Not unusual, but that woman, the Hokage, had sent his new team on a test mission. He reflected on that conversation with Kakashi.
start flashback---
"Well Sai, it seems that those two were needed for that mission! Only those two, we can't help that can we?"
Sai's expressionless eyes regarded the older man coldly. "You think I'm not joining them?"
"Well I assumed that Godaime Hokage wouldn't want you going..."
"Why on earth would that be? Didn't she tell you the reason for this test of hers? It's to integrate me into their little friendship and so put me in the team with ease."
As he'd left, he'd seen Kakashi's visible eye glare at him with real force. Oh well.
--- end flashback
And now he was entering the stupid cave in the mountain.
"Fuck this, if they don't like me why does that bitch Hokage want me to do this? It doesn't change anything." He peeled off the seals and entered the cave, sighing.
Those two really were useless, he didn't like it at all, that irritating boy, that idiotic girl, they were too emotional, letting their search for that Sasuke bastard drive them. He wasn't worth anything; he'd betrayed the village.
"We'd better head out, I think it's that tunnel." Naruto pointed to one of two tunnels. "I think the other one's the one we came in through."
Sakura nodded. "Yes, I think you're right. But stay alert for Akatsuki members, at least, Itachi must still be around somewhere." They both stood up, still wet from the lake, but controlling the cold as best they could. Sakura grimaced in pain as they walked.
Damn this hurts... if only I had more chakra left...
You're such an idiot you know that?! You should have healed yourself more.
I didn't know how serious Naruto's injuries were, I had to check first.
What about once you saw that his were less serious than your own? You're losing blood, you could kill us both here girl.
We won't die baka.
Who's the baka?!
"Sakura? Are you alright? You're bleeding." Sakura looked down and was surprised at the fact that the wound on her shoulder had opened up again, blood was slowly running down her torso. It was quite deep really, she brought her hand up to heal it but found that she was pretty much out of chakra. She concentrated hard, it wouldn't do to bleed to death, running out of chakra would temporarily disable her but bleeding out would be worse.
"I'm fine Naruto, see? Healed." She swayed slightly, "It's nothing to worry abou-" Naruto caught her arm as she fell, keeping her from hitting the ground.
"Ah." He looked at the unconscious girl dangling from his grasp by her wrist. Quickly scooping her up, he carefully put her over his shoulder and continued to walk.
There's gotta be a way out soon.
"Come on Sakura-chan, come on..."
A shadow moved in the corner of his eye, he jumped round to face an assailant but- there was nothing.
"Phew..." He sighed, the weight lifted off his shoulder.
The boy spun round suddenly to come face to face with cold, dark, distant eyes, and hair black as night.
Sasuke...
"Sasu- Sai! It's you!" Naruto blinked in surprise at the sudden appearance of this hated face. He looked to see that Sakura was now slung over Sai's shoulder and growled slightly in distaste.
"What are you doing? Give her back!" He went to punch the boy but Sai caught his hand inches before contact.
"As if that would do me any damage, not only do you lack the balls but you're weak from some sort of fight... But I doubt that you could get her into this state... She has what you lack." Sai turned and started to walk off, when Naruto didn't follow instantly he paused and looked back.
"You can't carry her for much longer... look at you. Pathetic." He continued onwards until Naruto growled deep in his throat.
"Why are you here? Granny Tsunade didn't say anything about you or Yamato coming along."
"I don't know anything about Yamato. Now are we getting out of here or not?"
"Why are you helping her?"
"Hokage-Sama told me to come and assist both of you in this test of your abilities to work as a team, evidently, no-penis and Sakura aren't very good. I encountered no insurmountable problems coming here."
"We had to fight Itachi! From Akatsuki you smartass!" Naruto yelled.
"And you let the girl take the hits? So much for your shitty bonds." Sai scorned him.
"That's not it! I was unconscious and before I knew it she'd used up all her chakra healing me! I wouldn't have let her if I'd known!" He yelled, Sai continued walking away.
"Like I care."
Why would she waste time doing that? Sai wondered, it's completely pointless... Like something brother would have done. Why am I carrying her for that matter? Am I helping her for my own sake? For his? Stop thinking these stupid fucking ideas.
He could tell that Naruto was pissed at him, but he couldn't care less, when the girl regained consciousness he would put her down, but until then, she needed to be carried or left behind, and Sai had a feeling that Naruto would not leave her behind...
"Sai? Is that you carrying me?" The voice took him by surprise; she was awake? He dropped her in his shock and she landed heavily on her side. "Ouch."
"I'm- " Sai stopped speaking before he could apologise to the girl, what was the point?
"It's ok Sai, it's not that bad..." Sakura gasped in pain as she sat up and Naruto flew to help her. "Well... ok, it's pretty bad, but I can walk." She laughed gently and patted Naruto's arm which helped her up, "Really Naruto, if I'm conscious I can walk." Neither of the boys noticed that her eyes were shimmering as she mentally flayed herself at her own weakness.
I'm weak... after all this time and training... I'm still the weakest one... I'm not worthless, just a pain.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto's worried face was before her, "Are you sure you can walk?" She avoided his eyes, he thought she was strong, but while she may be good as a Shinobi, she would never be strong at heart.
"I can walk Naruto, of course, don't worry so much." She pushed away his hand and stood up shakily herself, her companion watched her carefully.
"I'm not convinced Sakura-chan, let me help you, for me." She sighed and nodded assent, he took her arm and looped it round his neck, supporting her as she walked.
"Thank you Naruto."
"Anytime Sakura-chan!" He grinned, Sai cleared his throat.
"Very touching." He murmured sarcastically, "I think that the entrance is not too far off now, we should reach the base of the mountain at the exit."
Ah... So we were on a ramp.
"Then let's go, now we've got our only medic ninja with super strength awake again." Naruto began to move, pulling Sakura alongside, she sighed.
Always with the super strong medic ninja...
"Medic ninja with super strength..?" Sai said monotonically, but making it clear that it was a question. Sakura and Naruto both looked at him in surprise, he was interested? Naruto drew himself up, proud of his friend's abilities, and willing to share them.
"Sakura-chan is granny Tsunade's student, so she's now an amazing medical ninja too! She's also really strong and clever-"
"Ok, I knew that she was the Hokage's pupil, but that's it."
Sakura said nothing, just kept walking. Her two teammates fell silent and they all walked together, speeding up slightly as the ground levelled out.
Naruto tightened his grip on Sakura's wrist and side as they turned a blind corner. Daylight. They'd been travelling inside the mountain now for only half a day, but it felt like weeks.
"Naruto..." Sakura said in a low voice, so that only he could hear, she had to ask him this, it seemed important somehow. "Why did you carry me?" She looked at his face, slightly higher than hers. He was looking at her intently, patiently (unusual?) waiting for her to elaborate; the answer was so simple, hadn't she figured it out? "I could have walked after a few minutes." Sai turned his head slightly for the answer, once again showing interest in whatever it was the other two were saying. Naruto looked up at Sai then looked back at Sakura, a weak sort of smile on his face.
"Can I tell you later?" Sakura blinked but nodded and they kept going.
In the very distance, straight ahead, the was some light.
"Finally!" Naruto laughed, his previous earnestness forgotten as he started to speed up Sakura couldn't hold back a small intake of breath as her leg twitched in pain.
Naruto immediately slowed down, careful to make sure that Sakura was alright. She removed her hand from round his shoulder despite him trying to keep it there and she stepped away from him.
"You go, I'll catch up." Naruto furrowed his brow in a slight show of anger.
"A Shinobi never leaves his comrade behind." He crouched in front of her, offering his back. Sai stopped walking and watched this with slight amusement. Sakura sighed wearily.
"Fine!" She put her arms round his neck, blushing slightly and he put his arms round her legs to support her, then stood up and ran towards the light.
Good, if he'd tried to put his hands anywhere near my ass I'd have hit him.
Yeah right.
As always, SHUT UP!
Sai ran slightly behind them, keeping an eye out for any traps set up by Akatsuki... if Naruto was to be believed.
Though he didn't seem to be a liar...
Meanwhile, Naruto was thinking hard about his answer to Sakura's question... what to say? He could repeat his earlier sentiments, about how a Shinobi never leaves his comrade behind, but that wouldn't work, it didn't fit. He wouldn't have been leaving her behind.
The reason was... that I didn't want her to wake up in the darkness. She doesn't belong there. Can I tell her that? Will she hate me for it? Or laugh? Or thank me?
Itachi and Kisame watched them head for the opening, not moving.
"You didn't tell me that there was a ROOT ANBU with them." Kisame growled, glaring at the Uchiha next to him, who simply grunted in displeasure.
They kept to the shadows as the three Konoha Shinobi left their mountain.
"What do we do now that Konoha knows of this passageway? And that we were here?" Kisame murmured, "It's your former village, what do you think?"
"Hmm... We don't know how well known this tunnel is, we should block off all entrances and clear out the cells. We're relocating. You deal with the children, and I'll sort out the relocation."
"Fine, if they're still alive when you return, help out a little eh?"
"You don't think you'll cope alone?"
"I don't think we should underestimate these three."
"Oh wow..." Sakura sighed as they emerged into the light. "Where are we? This is somewhere else I've never heard of..."
"Yeah... It's amazing!" Naruto set her down and they all walked into the middle of the grassy area. Sai too had to admit that this place was beautiful.
Surrounded by mountain, there was this walled, ornamental garden with a small lake, a wooden bridge going out to a traditional looking red island sitting area. There was a lot of grass, scented flowers and sakura trees in full bloom. Soft pink petals slowly falling onto the grass and stone pathway leading up to the bridge.
Sai narrowed his eyes, "Someone's been living here, I'll go check it out, Naruto, make sure that Sakura's in a fit state to fight if we have to, go to that island area to recuperate."
"Sure." Naruto picked Sakura up again and carried her over to the island, she rolled her eyes in exasperation, but didn't protest. As he put her down on a cushion she leaned against the red wooden fencing around the artificial island, looking at the trees in the garden.
No matter how many petals fall, the flowers always bloom again... That's what you say isn't it dad? That's why I'm called Sakura right?
Naruto sat directly opposite her and folded his legs under him. "Sakura-chan, have you got enough chakra to heal yourself now?" He glanced around them to check for enemies, while Sakura used her chakra sparingly to heal the larger wounds, when the major problems were healed and all she was left with were smaller cuts and bruising, she sighed a little and stopped. If enemies were nearby, she needed to be able to fight.
"Haa!" She sighed, stretching a little where she sat, Naruto smiled a little, his eyes relaxed and kind.
"All done?"
"Sure, should we help Sai?" She stood up, resting on the fencing, looking over the lake. It seemed sp peaceful, it was difficult to imagine that Akatsuki were close by.
"I think he's got it pretty much covered, this is a safe enough looking place to set up base anyways." Naruto came to stand next to her, and a sakura petal fell onto his shoulder. The girl brushed it off quickly and drew out some exploding tags and wire.
"Let's make it a safer base though, can't be too prepared!" she handed him some of the wire and tags, indicating for him to help set up some traps. "It won 't catch Itachi or that Kisame guy but it should buy us time if they attack." He began to string some of the wire up. "Oh and Naruto..."
"Yes?"
"You didn't tell me why you carried me."
He turned and looked at her in surprise, blue eyes wide as they met her green ones. He'd forgotten about that.
Arrrgh! What do I say?!
"Sorry Naruto, I'd just like to know... But it's ok, it doesn't matter." She hastily turned away and busied herself setting up some traps.
What the hell am I doing? I'm thinking about this tiny issue too much. Damn it.
Damn it's right! I'm so bored right now I could kill someone.
You're a killer?!
For someone who shares a body, you really don't know me very well do ya?
I'm glad!
What was that you just said?!
"So you wouldn't wake up in that place."
"Wah?" Sakura turned to see her blond friend resting against the fence, looking at her seriously. She faltered, what had he said?
"I carried you so that when you came round, it wouldn't be in the darkness... That's all, sorry if it offends you or something I just- it seemed like the only thing I could do."
She brought a hand to her mouth in hesitation. "Offend me?" She murmured. "How could that offend me? That's... so nice of you Naruto. Thank you."
She went up to him and hugged him tightly.
This boy... he's so considerate, and kind... always saving me, saving everyone. There's no one else quite like him in the world... of that I'm sure. He risks his life repeatedly for everybody in Konoha, no, not just Konoha...Almost everyone he meets he'll protect.
"Thank you." She said again, still hugging him. "Not just for that... You've always been this way haven't you? You've helped me so many times, and I can't ever thank you enough."
Naruto's eyes were wide, he hadn't expected any of this... she was hugging him. Hugs weren't very common from Sakura, there must be something else on her mind. But despite the fact that he was undeniably concerned about her, he thought he might as well enjoy the hug while it lasted so he put his arms around her too.
They stayed that way for a while, not even realising that time was passing, though after a few minutes, Naruto lifted his head from Sakura's shoulder and rested it on her head, looking at the trees on land. It was so peaceful here, and to be here with her was amazing. It didn't matter that she would never love him, he would bring back Sasuke, and she would be happy then, she deserved all the happiness it was possible to give.
"I'll bring him back Sakura-chan." He smiled, and was surprised when she shook her head and moved away quickly, turning away and clenching her fists by her side.
"Don't Naruto. We'll bring him back together... but, I don't want him back the way that you think. Why can't you see?" She paused, shocked at her own outburst. Then continued slowly, carefully choosing her words; "I... I don't love Sasuke anymore... I still want to bring him back. But I want him back as a lost comrade, a lost friend. Not as- I don't love him now." She stopped and slowly turned to look at Naruto. Her eyes desperately asking for some kind of recognition of what she was saying. He was looking at her, definitely confused.
"You- don't love him?" He asked uncertainly. Not sure how to respond... How could he make her happy now? What was she trying to say?
"No, Naruto, not anymore."
"Why?" Naruto still couldn't get his head round it. She'd spent almost her whole life in love with Sasuke, what had changed her mind? Her heart?
She sighed and walked back to him, kissing him on the lips. After a moment of shock, Naruto (finally) understood, and felt his heart leap in his chest, and he kissed her back.
Kisame kept in the shadows, waiting for Sai to join them again, it would be stupid to attack when there was a chance of being surprised by a separate attack from the other team member.
"Heh..." Naruto grinned. Sakura grinned back, blushing slightly, she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. To be like this... it had taken her too long to realise what she felt for him. Looking back, it was easy to see that she'd felt this for a long time.
But then, it's always easier when looking back.
What to say...
Hmm?
To ruin the moment! You're such a sap.
I'm allowed, it's Naruto. He's always been there, he's always seen the best in me, and that's made me who I am. When training with Tsunade-sama, it was thinking about him that drove me. I can't believe it took me so long to figure it out. He's strong, kind, hyperactive annoying, clumsy and... Perfect.
Oh dear god, don't rant! I can't take it!
Heh... Take it bitch!
Naruto laughed softly, bringing a hand up to her head and stroking her hair gently.
"I never thought..."
"You never think." Sakura said quickly, and Naruto laughed.
"That's harsh Sakura-chan! I was going to say that I never thought you'd ever like me like that... and that was what I thought even before you found out about the... well the Kyuubi."
Sakura frowned. "Why would that stop me? Honestly Naruto."
He hugged her tightly, "I... I love you Sakura-chan, for so long."
She stroked his cheek with her finger, "I love you Naruto, so much."
"Um... you two?" Sai was standing about three feet away, raising his eyebrows. "Shouldn't there be some traps? You guys are a bit vulnerable to attack huh?"
As he said these words, a sword with several small blades covering it came crashing down on the place where Sakura and Naruto had been standing just before they dodged it.
"Damn it." Sakura muttered.
"Typical." Naruto frowned.
"Hmm." Sai grunted. All three stood ready to fight the shark-like Akatsuki member.
