Whoa. DUDES! Thank you all so much for the fantastic response to the last chapter! That was like the most reviews I've ever gotten for a chapter like EVER. I had 40 reviews or something before I put chapter 3 up and now I'm over 100. AWESOME! XD I really appreciate all the feedback guys and girls!
Please make sure you read the author's note at the end of the chapter, I've a very important announcement to make. Before we get to that, roll on with the story!
Chapter IV: The Race - Part II
.'Flashback"'
Konoha was burning. It was the very picture of despair. The scene stirred vestiges of memory deep inside his mind. The familiar sense of déjà vu overwhelmed him as the reality of the situation sunk in. Massacre. The unmistakable stench of death and destruction hung thickly and ominously in the air, gripping the entire atmosphere in a sense of choking and impending doom.
As he passed lifeless bodies, Sasuke felt something begin to burn deep within his chest. He had explicitly made it clear to Madara that innocent civilians were not to be harmed. And yet they now littered the once peaceful roads of Konoha, the roads he remembered in recollections locked up for safekeeping years earlier. Houses had been burned down and people streamed past him, screaming and sobbing. Through the veil of the hood of his dark cloak, Sasuke saw a child crying out for its mother. A kunoichi the Uchiha didn't recognise ran to the child, sweeping him up in her arms and hurrying away from a blazing home.
Sasuke's eyes, of their own will, had turned to red; an automatic and unconscious reaction to the silent fury that coursed through his veins. The village was in chaos. He knew that Madara was no doubt heading to the Hokage's tower, if the elder Uchiha hadn't reached it already.
A sense of urgency settled into his mind. Sasuke had to hurry. He had to put an end to this. But even as he moved, light on his feet, a whispering alarm bell went off in his mind. Names he didn't want to recall drifted into his thoughts as his eyes instinctively searched the bodies, involuntarily seeking anybody familiar.
Naruto.
Kakashi.
Sakura.
Where were they? Why had he yet to encounter any of them? Or any other familiar face from his past? Perhaps they were away from the village on a mission, although it seemed unlikely. Word had no doubt already spread of Konoha under attack. Any Leaf ninjas stationed in neighbouring provinces would have speedily returned.
This hadn't been the way he had planned it. Madara had gotten to the village first and the detour Sasuke had taken to lose Madara's tracking team had cost him. On initially arriving in Konoha the young Uchiha had sent Suigetsu, Juugo and Karin ahead to intercept any attempts by Konoha's ninja to get in the way of his plans, strictly instructing Hawk that while they could disable any threats, they were absolutely not permitted to kill anybody.
As he stepped around a fallen market stall, he quickened his pace, stepping over bodies and being careful not to tread on any. He was about to surge ahead toward the Hokage's tower using his phenomenal speed when something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. To his right, a streak of colour amidst the dull greys, blacks and browns of burnt materials and ash stained bodies.
Sasuke stopped abruptly on the spot, head twisting to allow his Sharingan eyes better visibility of the item that had caught his notice. Next to two fallen bodies clad in dark clothing lay a slender figure, sprawled on the muddy ground, pale, shapely legs tainted with scratches and blood stains. His eyes trailed from the legs, further up.
Black shorts.
A red dress.
Black gloves.
Something knotted deep within his gut as his analytical gaze fell on the final shade of colour. Sudden and startling realisation washed over him.
Pink hair.
Pink hair.
He almost turned away. In a moment of uncharacteristic indecision, Sasuke stood on the spot, hinged upon it, capable of swaying either way. His feet shifted and he made as if to turn away and head back in the direction of the Hokage's tower; a purely thoughtless and senseless movement. But as his feet began to turn, eyes still fixed on the mass of pale pink locks on the floor, his mind stilled. A strange feeling overwhelmed him, a strange detachment. As if he could not believe what he was seeing. His tumultuous emotions were at war with his composed mind.
And then his feet shifted again and he was moving forward swiftly before he could even comprehend what it was he planned to do. He knew that if any of Madara's followers spied him and guessed his identity under the cloak, he would seriously be at a disadvantage.
But that fact suddenly seemed unimportant.
He knelt down, eyes scanning the two bodies next to the one before him. They were dead. He knew it with certainty. He reached out with his hands, minutely hesitating before gripping onto the slender shoulders of the girl on the floor and turning her over from her position on her front on the ashy ground.
Her skin against his hands was warm. She was breathing, quietly, slowly. She was alive.
The realisation settled in his mind and an alien emotion washed over him. He hadn't realised until that moment that his heart had been pounding and that he had been holding back oxygen to his lungs. Relief was a feeling he was not accustomed to acknowledging. At that moment, he ignored it.
An arm supported the base of the back of her head as his eyes roamed over her face, inspecting the damage. Soft, pale cheeks, that in his far-away memories had always held a rosy blush, were now cut and leaking blood. Her arms were badly scratched but other than that there didn't appear to be any major damage. Clinically he concluded that she must have been knocked unconscious by someone or something at some point. Her breathing was slow and steady and she would soon come back around.
Sasuke knew that as long as Sakura remained in her current position, she was at risk of suffering even greater damage. The building to his near left was burning unsteadily. He had to get her away from it, away from the open.
The thought struck him as ridiculous. He had been away from the village for so long, and now back within its gates he was picking up exactly where he had left off; carrying Sakura to a more comfortable location.
The irony would have struck anybody as amusing, but he was Uchiha Sasuke, and although he would never admit it, he was silently outraged to find Haruno Sakura in such a deplorable state.
She was even lighter than he remembered as he gathered her slender, fragile form in his arms and scooped her up from the ground. In a blur of movement untraceable to eyes lacking the Sharingan, the raven haired shinobi had transported himself and his former team-mate to a partially damaged hut that he vaguely recalled had once been a small supplies store. Hurriedly, he entered it, knowing that it would hold stable and that Sakura would safely regain consciousness within its protective cocoon.
He set her down against the wall behind the till counter, awkwardly, as carefully as he could, as if she were a glass doll capable of breaking from the slightest application of pressure. He had not handled anyone gently since the last time he had set the very same girl on a bench, on the night of his leaving Konoha, years earlier.
For a few seconds, his hands remained on her, the right resting lightly on her left shoulder, the left resting lower down her left arm, just above the wrist. Then he withdrew, sitting back on his heels as his eyes rested on her face for a moment.
His thoughts turned to Naruto and Kakashi. Where were they? And why had they not assisted Sakura? His hands clenched into tight fists as he watched a fresh trail of blood trickle slowly down Sakura's dirt-stained left cheek.
A blink of an eye later and the cloaked Uchiha had risen from the pink-haired girl's side and exited the hut, speedily heading toward the Hokage's tower.
.'End/Flashback"'
'We don't stand a chance against them, Sora.' The purple haired girl whined. 'They're too skilled!'
Together with her brown-haired team-mate, they had only managed to acquire two ribbons and were way behind the other teams.
Sora huffed, crouching down in his position on a high up branch of a tree. He frowned as he watched Sasuke and Sakura speed by them below. They had four ribbons and from the way Sasuke was moving, Sora guessed he was well on his way toward a fifth ribbon.
Slowly an idea crept into his mind. He looked at his purple-haired team-mate. They were struggling and if they kept up the way they were going, would finish last. That was unacceptable. Sora decided that some drastic action was necessary. They had to finish in a respectable position. He'd never live it down if he came last. His friends would never let him.
'I've got an idea of how we can steal this at the very end!'
'Huh?' His team-mate stared at him with startled chocolate eyes. 'We can't cheat, we'll be disqualified!'
'We won't cheat! Nobody will get hurt. Not if we pull it off at the perfect moment!' Sora replied.
'Pull what off?' The girl frowned.
Sora smiled a sly smile. 'I'll explain it all to you on the way down. We're gonna win this Kimi; just wait and see!'
Carrying Sakura on his back was very much like carrying nothing at all. The only constant reminder that she was with him was the feel of a warm body against his back, the legs hooked into the loops of his arms and the slender arms that clung onto his shoulders. She was small boned and very light, and her weight didn't hinder Sasuke's movement at all.
As he weaved through more branches, her voice suddenly came to him.
'Sasuke-kun-'
Her mouth was so close that he could feel her warm breath stir strands of raven hair over his ear. His body tensed slightly, a purely reflexive reaction. But he disguised it well by leaping to a higher up branch, providing a logical explanation for the tightening of his muscles.
'-there's a ribbon up there.' Sakura finished.
His eyes scanned the location ahead and sure enough, he spotted a dark green ribbon, well disguised between the leaves of a branch above them. He silently handed it to his team-mate; she was certainly observant.
'Sakura.' He addressed her, stopping on a branch just below the one that held the ribbon. As he set her down, he reasoned that if he gave her a boost up toward the branch, they could continue on their way without losing ground. After all, they still needed to find the ultimate prize - the Golden Ribbon, and then make it back to the finish line first.
'I'll boost you up to the branch.'
Sakura's eyes widened slightly at what he was suggesting. But surely throwing her up there at high speed would mean she would be unable to avoid oncoming obstacles once she snagged the ribbon. Sasuke's eyes shifted to his right slightly, sensing her hesitation.
'But-wouldn't the speed...?' She began uncertainly.
'You won't fall.' He cut in, holding out his right hand to her, eyes remaining on the ribbon above them.
Sakura looked at his hand, outstretched to her, and took a deep breath, nodding. She trusted Sasuke. She knew that if he said she would not fall, he meant it. She gave him her left hand. A second later, his plan was in motion as he kicked against the tree trunk to their right and spun in mid-air, simultaneously twisting Sakura around and releasing her in the direction of the branch high above. With a determined look, Sakura soared through the air as Sasuke mirrored her movement below, timing his advance forward with her progression toward the ribbon.
As she reached out and tore it from its branch, she felt the momentum which had propelled her up begin to falter as gravity pulled her down. There were no branches she could use to break her fall and her eyes frantically searched the blur of trees passing by her as she fell into descent, seeking Sasuke. There was a faster blur to her left and a moment later she felt arms catch her. She collided into Sasuke's body; the side of hers pressed against the front of his as her arms wrapped around his neck to achieve stability. His right arm snaked around her waist as he continued forward, left hand gripping the kunai tightly.
He had engaged the Sharingan again, looking out and listening for any nearby teams. When he heard the faint rustle of leaves to his right, he whipped his head around, spotting silhouettes in the same direction. He came to rest on another tree branch, setting Sakura down and staring back in the direction from which he had detected movement.
'Sasuke-kun?' Sakura questioned, confused at why they were suddenly stopping. But Sasuke paid her no attention, staring intently at the same spot. Sakura followed his gaze, seeing nothing. She looked back at him, waiting for an answer. When no explanation was offered, she spoke up again.
'Sasuke-kun, what's wrong? Is someone there?'
He frowned lightly.
She gazed up at his chiselled features. 'I didn't hear anything - what is it? Did you hear something?'
His frown intensified and he now looked vaguely irritated, but Sakura pressed on,
'Did you hear someone? Is someone coming toward-umph!?'
Her eyes widened as Sasuke, without looking at her, abruptly slapped a warm palm against her mouth, silencing her questioning. Blinking in surprise, she watched, stupefied, as he turned his head, a look of intense concentration etched on his handsome features.
The situation stirred Genin memories in the pink-haired young woman's mind; a certain far more serious situation many years earlier, in the Forest of Death, where Sasuke had done the very same thing and placed a hand over her mouth to quieten her. She suddenly wondered why he chose to silence her in that way instead of telling her to keep her mouth shut. But it was a curiosity that would never be satisfied and she knew it. The gesture would forever remain a mystery, much like Sasuke was himself.
She thought how unlikely it was that he even remembered clamping a hand over her mouth all those years ago, anyway.
Suddenly Sasuke's Sharingan eyes widened slightly and he removed his hand from against Sakura's mouth, shifting position and pulling her along with him as he jumped to the neighbouring branch, and stationed them behind the protective body of the great tree they had landed on. Sakura realised that he was hiding them from someone's view and then she finally heard it; the louder sound of leaves rustling some distance behind them.
She was tugged down to rest on her knees beside his crouching form as Sasuke gritted the kunai's handle between his teeth, peering around the corner of the tree trunk. Beside him, Sakura leaned forward, desperately trying to see who he had his sights on. Her green eyes widened when she spotted a glimmer of long blonde hair catch sunlight in the small opening between an encirclement of trees. Shikamaru and Ino were coming their way, and Ino's pale arm was laced with ribbons.
The pink-haired kunoichi sent a look at the raven-haired Uchiha. 'Sasuke-kun?' She whispered questioningly, wanting to know what he was planning.
Sasuke merely watched the pair from the safety of their concealed position on the higher up branch, before looking away and removing the kunai from its hold between his teeth. He then directed a slanting look at Sakura. Slowly, one corner of his lips turned upward, giving her a smirk so self-satisfied and smug that her heart fluttered within her chest. She was transfixed as his Sharingan eyes held hers for a moment, before promptly breaking contact. He slipped his right hand index finger into the circular hook at the end of the kunai's handle, twirling it fluidly in his grasp as he timed his attack.
'Sakura.' He stated quietly, not looking back at her. 'This will catch two ribbons and pin them to that tree opposite us.'
Sakura leaned around him, peering at said tree. She nodded in understanding.
Sasuke's eyes shifted back to her. 'Be ready to move. I'll meet you by the tree.'
She nodded again as she adjusted her position, getting ready to do as he had explained.
'Hai!'
Sasuke peered back around the edge of the tree trunk, watching closely with crimson eyes. As a clueless Shikamaru and Ino continued in their direction, he spotted the window of opportunity and with impressively fast reflexes hurtled the kunai toward its target.
'Now!' He instructed Sakura, who wasted no time and leapt from the branch, following after the whirling kunai.
Shikamaru spotted a sudden glimmer of reflected light to his right and whipped his head around just in time to see a kunai flying right toward them.
'Shit!' He swore, in disbelief that someone had managed to catch him off guard. Ino gasped as she felt a small tug of pressure on her left arm, soon realising the source; the kunai had pierced through two loosely tied ribbons with flawless accuracy and torn them both from her arm and into the trunk of a tree to their left.
'Shika-kun, turn around!' She urgently ordered, but it was too late. Her bright blue eyes widened when the identity of their ambushers literally came to light as pink streaked beneath a golden ray of sunlight.
Sakura had reached the tree with the embedded ribbons and looped them around her right arm. Ino was positively outraged.
'Forehead!' She screeched in fury. 'Give those back!'
Sakura released a light laugh.
'I win, Ino-Pig!'
The taunting only served to heighten the blonde kunoichi's anger.
'Shikamaru!' She practically rained angry punches down upon a wincing Shikamru's head and threw all endearing suffixes out the window. 'Stop her!'
In response, Sakura pushed herself away from the tree. In a blur of movement, Sasuke materialised beside her, retrieving the embedded kunai. As he pushed away, he allowed Sakura to wrap her arms around his neck as he manoeuvred them both safely away from Shikamaru's reaching shadow hand with ease.
Sakura turned her head, looking back at Ino, and stuck her tongue out at her friend playfully, waving the ribbons tauntingly with one hand. The blonde gaped, not only from her anger, but in disbelief at what she was seeing. The front of Sakura's body was pressed against Sasuke's. Sasuke wasn't holding onto the kunoichi; only her firm grip on him saved her from falling to the floor far below; but it was the fact that he didn't seem to mind her clinging so tightly that shocked the blue-eyed girl.
The underside of the former nukenin's chin brushed lightly against the top of Sakura's silky head of hair as he turned his face to look back at Ino and Shikamaru. A mocking, ghost of a smirk played on his arrogant lips. Paired with Sakura's expression, the look said everything; they had stolen Ino and Shikamaru's ribbons and there was nothing the two could do about it. The Nara clansman tried to reach out with another shadow hand but a referee appeared beside him, forcing Shikamaru on the defensive.
The referee raised the water gun and Shikamaru hurriedly moved to take cover, looking very annoyed as he muttered how 'troublesome' teaming with his sweetheart was proving to be. Ino's shrill screaming followed after a safely distanced Sasuke and Sakura.
'Forehead, I'll get you for thiiiiis!'
Sakura's response to Ino's fading screeches - a rather exhilarated but innocent giggle - snapped Sasuke to attention. He suddenly became all too aware of the way she hung onto him.
What...is she doing?
But even as he silently questioned her, he was harshly censuring himself. Before the race had begun, he had personally sworn that he would not carry Sakura the way he was carrying her now. And yet it had somehow just happened in the rush of the moment. What was worse, Yamanaka Ino, former fangirl extraordinaire, had witnessed it. And he had allowed it.
Damn it. What was I thinking?
It was impossible to ignore; arms were around his neck and a left leg entangled around his right one. Her front was pressed against his. It was warm. It was soft. His body reacted strangely to his painfully conscious thoughts and he knew that if Naruto saw them, there would be no end to the blond boy's teasing. She had clung onto him in this awkward manner long enough. Surely it wasn't appropriate behaviour to continue carrying her in this way. While it may have been excusable when he had initially caught her as she pushed away from the tree, it was now most certainly not acceptable in his mind. She had never held onto him like this –full-bodied from the front. He had never carried her like this before – so closely.
As he surged on, his hands hastily slipped to Sakura's slender sides and he swiftly moved her with ease onto his back once again. Sasuke could move a lot more fluidly if he was comfortable with the way he carried her.
He didn't see Sakura anxiously indent teeth into her lower lip behind him.
Hinata scanned the trees for more ribbons, heart pounding. She had never been so nervous, or delighted, in her life. Naruto, Naruto-kun was carrying her, and he hadn't dropped her once. There had been one occasion where he had almost lost his hold on her, but he had managed to recover well to ensure that he didn't let her fall tumbling to the ground.
It was just as she expected from the blond. He was such a gentleman, handling her so carefully. But it was a stark contrast to how she had witnessed him carrying Sakura the previous year. Little did she know that the reason Naruto was being so careful with her was because he was afraid that if he dropped her just once, Hinata's father would make him pay. She felt much more fragile than Sakura. Sakura was always so rough around him and though he had felt bad for all the times he had let her fall, he knew she had been able to take one or two bruises. But Hinata seemed more delicate somehow, and so Naruto was extra careful.
Unfortunately, they had been hit twice by referees, which deducted from their total points tally. Naruto, however, wasn't concerned. He and Hinata had already managed to grab six ribbons in total, and the race wasn't even over yet. He was confident that he would be the winner, that he could beat the other competition, especially Sasuke.
A grin plastered on his face as he addressed his team-mate.
'Hoy, Hinata-chan! Keep an eye out for that Golden Ribbon! We've got to get to it before Sasuke!'
'H...hai!' Hinata nodded, slender eyebrows drawing together in determination as she engaged her clan's gift once again.
Naruto's grin widened. This race was his for the taking.
Tenten's eyes searched the trees frantically. Time was running out; they were almost into the final and most challenging area of the race course, and she and Lee had only acquired 5 ribbons. The previous year, she and Neji had snagged 8 by this stage.
But then, the competition hadn't been so fierce the last time around. The last time around, Uchiha Sasuke hadn't been competing, and neither had Hyuuga Hinata. Naruto and Sakura opting to pair with stronger, more advantaged partners had made the task of retaining her winner's crown significantly more difficult. She knew it wasn't Lee's fault that they weren't doing well enough; her team-mate was carrying her very quickly and he had only lost his hold on her once. The reality simply was that the other teams were getting to the ribbons first. Lee was fast, but Sasuke was faster. Tenten had keen eyesight but Hinata had the Byakuugan and so the Hyuuga heiress could spot any hidden ribbons easily.
'Lee!' She called down to her team-mate, who carried her firmly on his shoulders. 'We need to hurry! There aren't many ribbons left, and if we don't get to the Golden Ribbon first-'
'Don't worry, Tenten!' Lee cut in, odd eyes wide with determination. 'The Golden Ribbon will be ours! Youth shall prevail and Gai-sensei...Gai-sensei will be proud!' His eyes sparkled over at the thought of his role model. 'Yes! To the Golden Ribbon!' He surged forward at an even greater pace and Tenten prepared her scrolls as she spied Kiba and his team-mate in the distance. They had to win this. She couldn't let Neji and their sensei down.
Kiba congratulated his team-mate on the ribbon she had just managed to steal from a furious Chouji. He glanced back over his right shoulder, grinning devilishly at the stomping shinobi who was rapidly falling far behind.
'Heh heh, better luck next time fatty!' He called back mockingly. Chouji's glare became the look of pure doom.
'I'M NOT FAT!' He yelled, surprising Kiba by picking up speed at a sudden and alarming pace. As he rolled toward a horrified Kiba and his partner, he added in a thunderous voice, 'I'M JUST THICK BONED!'
'D...damn, move out the way, quick!' Kiba warned his team-mate, who barely managed to escape the flying kunai thrown by Chouji's partner. She didn't recover in time to spot Tenten and Lee appearing behind her. Tenten's fluttering scroll snagged a ribbon away from the poor girl.
Now it was Kiba's turn to be furious.
'Y...you damn thieves!' He yelled (rather hypocritically).
Naruto and Hinata appeared from a left cluster of trees, instantly sweeping into the fray. Naruto was laughing madly, relishing the chaos of the situation. He knew it was the last opportunity to steal more ribbons before making the final, mad dash toward the much coveted Golden Ribbon.
'Hinata-chan! Now!' The blond shouted.
He set Hinata down, allowing the Hyuuga girl to race forward, eyebrows drawn together anxiously as she followed the path of the kunai Naruto had just thrown toward Kiba's partner.
Kiba went insane.
'HINATA, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!' He roared.
'I...I'm sorry, Kiba-kun!' Hinata gasped in response, as she snagged another ribbon from Kiba's dazed team-mate. Naruto chuckled as he snatched Hinata safely away from a lunging Kiba, and continued on toward the ultimate prize.
But Lee and Tenten were hot on their heels.
'Give it up Fuzzy-Brows! Nobody's gonna stop us from getting that ribbon!' Naruto called back to Lee, who was rapidly closing the distance between them. Hinata avoided Tenten's scroll and Naruto somersaulted in the air to avoid the kunai Lee had flung at them. Hinata's heart flew as Naruto landed back on the ground, continuing to race forward determinedly.
Now far behind them, Kiba and Chouji were about to become embroiled in a mad melee, forgetting all about the aim of the game, much to the dismay of their team-mates. Three referees appeared, instantly snapping Chouji and Kiba back to their senses as they scrambled to avoid being hit by water balloons.
Ino and Shikamaru descended from a tree and joined the commotion, Shikamaru using the distraction to his advantage as he closed in on the red-haired girl and black-haired boy who had also appeared on the scene, momentarily caught off guard after being hit by a referee's shot. The drenched red-haired girl screamed in dismay as Ino stole two ribbons, waving them happily. Then the blonde kunoichi urged Shikamaru onwards, determined not to lose to Sakura.
Author's Note
Good grief! This is only half of what I've typed up. The overall length of this chapter was originally 8,000 words. RIDICULOUSLY LONG! I was afraid it'd be too much drama for everyone to digest in one chapter, so I decided to split it up to make for easier reading. You'll get the rest in the next chapter. The plus side of all this is I've got the next chapter pretty much done and dusted, so it'll be hot on the heels of this update, BELIEVE IT! XD
Thanks so much again for the awesome reviews of the last chapter! I'm a greedy soul so I'm anticipating lots of reviewz again for this one. 'Coz, y'know, feedback fuels mah SOUL! xD Seriously please do let me know what you all thought of this one, muchly appreciated!
So now anyways, I HAVE SOMETHING SO AWESOME TO BRING TO YOUR ATTENTION! I'm sure all you SasuSaku fans are familiar with the DA artist Samurai-PET. YES. THE SAMURAI-PET. THE LEGEND! THE GOD! THE...you catch my drift, right? xD Well the AWESOME PET drew a picture based off chapter 3 of this fic, for which I am eternally humbled and I can't stop gawking at it. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! I've put the link up on my profile page, you'll find it under the 'Naruto' updates section. I'll link to it here too, because I really think you should all go gawk at it right now:
http:(2 forward slashes)img128(dot)imageshack(dot)us/img128/1620/race3pt1(dot)png
Obviously replace the (2 forward slashes) and (dot)s with their actual respective symbols on your keyboard if that makes sense xD;
THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN PET! YOU'RE SO GREAT! And I'm shamelessly fangirling now so I'll just stop here XD
See you peoples next update!