Sakura stretched her back and used her arms to pull her backwards enough to stand up. She had been sitting with her legs dangling off the cliff face for a good thirty minutes, knowing that Sasuke knew exactly where she was.
She could literally feel his Chakra rubbing against hers the entire time, just challenging her to try and make a run for it. She didn't of course because she enjoyed what little freedom he allowed her to have, which wasn't much at all.
She gave one last look at the brilliantly shining stars before making her way back into the cave. Juugo and Suigetsu were already asleep on their Futons, both of them stirring slightly when she snuck into the cave.
Sasuke was still awake, illuminated only by the dying cinders of the fire. He didn't move when she walked past him, only his eyes following her movements alerted her to his woken state.
Sighing she lifted her blanket and futon off the stone floor and brushed the crumbled rock off of them. She couldn't sleep in the place she had chosen because of Juugo's earlier rage, which had covered the ground in sharp jagged rocks.
Lifting her backpack and medicinal satchel off the ground she moved until her Futon was a metre away from Sasuke, deeming it a safe enough distance not to do anything to him in her sleep, again.
It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, aided by the gentle sound of a breeze whistling into the cave.
Sakura woke up early the next morning to the sounds of Sasuke digging through his backpack. She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes before looking over to see what Sasuke was doing.
Sasuke glanced over to Sakura who was looking at the item in his hand with disbelief. Scoffing, Sasuke shoved it back into his backpack and climbed to his feet, ignoring Sakura's questioning glances.
Sakura couldn't believe he still had that photograph of team 7, even after so many years. Hell, Sakura had her own group of genin she taught now. They were a lot like team 7 were actually; there was the cheery and bashful Hiruko, the cool and stoic Kai and the kind and sweet Yachiro.
She frowned, she missed her team and she had no doubt that that Naruto-baka was teaching them his profane jutsus again while she was gone.
Eyeing her black forehead protector tied tightly around her upper arm, she smiled. She had beaten Naruto to Jounin, only because he had gone off to train with Jaraiya and missed becoming a Chunin.
Well, she took it as a victory regardless.
Standing up she rolled up her futon and blanket and shoved it into her backpack, strapping her medic pouch around her hips before walking over to the entrance and sitting in the same place as the day before.
She wasn't sure why, but she felt almost free sitting on the edge of the cliff, for the most part Sasuke wasn't even worried she might jump. She couldn't escape if she was dead after all.
Suigetsu and Juugo came out of the cave a few minutes afterwards, Suigetsu complaining about the lack of food and Juugo agreeing with him.
"Morning, Sakura-san," Juugo said cheerily, lifting a hand up in greeting.
"Morning," Sakura replied dully, looking down at the trees at the bottom of the cliff with a blank expression. Her mind was miles away, deep in thought.
Sasuke came out the cave soon afterwards and pulled Sakura away from the cliff by her waist, ignoring her cries of protest, and threw her over his shoulder.
Using the cliff face as leverage he jumped onto a branch of one of the trees below them and bounded on ahead.
"Sasuke put me down!" Sakura grunted over his shoulder, pounding her fists furiously into his back. Sasuke growled in annoyance and tightened his grip around her thighs. He wouldn't be carrying her like this if it wasn't completely necessary.
With a whistle a Kunai embedded in the tree bark next to Sasuke's head, the tree splintering on contact. Sasuke cursed under his breath and increased his speed, Juugo and Suigetsu right beside him.
Sasuke looked back; sharingan activated and counted five ninja behind them, attempting to surround them. Sasuke snarled and looked over to Juugo who was surprisingly calm considering the situation. 'Perfect,' Sasuke thought, moving himself closer to Juugo.
"Juugo, carry her for me," Sasuke shouted over the fast moving air. With a nod from Juugo, Sakura was passed from Sasuke's right shoulder onto Juugo's left. Sakura watched carefully as Kusanagi was pulled from its sheathe.
"Suigetsu, with me," Sasuke called to Suigetsu, whose face turned up into a bloodthirsty grin before he pulled Zanbatou off his back and, using a tree as leverage, turned his body to fall back behind them.
Sasuke twisted his body to the side, narrowly avoiding three senbon that embedded into a nearby tree trunk, a purple substance dripping dangerously off the ends.
Sasuke cursed under his breath and propelled himself forward, slicing through the abdomen of one of the man causing him to fall lifelessly to the ground and moving onto the next, who brought up a kunai and deflected his attack.
Sasuke pushed against the man's Kunai and was about to channel lightning through Kusanagi when the man was sliced across the back by Suigetsu and plummeted into a tree branch.
"Yumihiko!" a kunoichi shouted, landing on the branch next to him and turning angrily towards Suigetsu.
"You'll pay for that mist-nin!" She growled, bursting forward and cutting into Suigetsu's arm with a poison coated kunai. Suigetsu hissed in pain and twisted his upper body, swinging the large blade and almost slicing the woman clean in half.
The last two ninja however, not wanting to end up like their fallen companions, retreated into the tree line, one of them dropping a book he had been carrying.
The three slowed to a halt and Sakura took the first opportunity to slide off of Juugo's shoulder and stood there in shock as an injured Suigetsu came up to her.
Sakura gingerly held Suigetsu's forearm in her hand, twisting it slightly as she followed the curve of the cut.
Dipping her finger into the green liquid she brought it up to her eyes and rubbed it curiously between her fingers.
"Curare," she mumbled curiously under her breath, sniffing the substance to be sure before looking towards Sasuke who was watching her intently.
Suigetsu suddenly dropped to his knees, his sword clattering across the ground.
"If I do not extract the poison from you, you will be paralysed within the next minute or two, it's hard to tell without knowing the concentration," She said professionally, giving Sasuke a pointed look.
Sasuke scoffed, studying Suigetsu before giving in to her demands and loosening the hold the seal had on her chakra. He didn't want to have to do this until they got to the base in case she tried anything stupid.
Sakura smiled with the familiar feeling of her chakra rushing through her body. She turned back to Suigetsu and cursed under her breath when she realised she didn't have the right supplies with her to extract the poison properly.
Digging through her medical pouch she pulled out a jar of a loose flaky powder and sprinkled it onto the cut. She would have to thank Hinata if she ever saw her again for her brilliant healing creams and powders that she was so good at making.
Suigetsu hissed and rested his head on one of his knees, trying his best to ignore the pain of his body rejecting and expelling the poison through the wound.
Small beads of green liquid dripped down the side of the cut and after a few minutes Sakura focused chakra into her hands and hovered them just over the wound.
Years of practice and skill refining had made her the most requested healer by the ally villages; she had even surpassed Tsunade a short while back in the healing department. Sakura still paled in comparison in strength however.
The skin knitted together and in less than two minutes, the deep cut was just a pale pink line across his arm that would disappear in a few days.
Suigetsu let out a sigh of relief and wiped the remaining poison off on his pants, ignoring his body's protest to the movement and rising to his feet.
"Thanks Pinky, that really could have been bad," He said with a sheepish grin, feeling guilty about his previous rudeness towards her.
"Anytime," She said with a smile, instantly regretting healing him so fast when she felt her chakra being choked and controlled again.
She growled in annoyance and glared at Sasuke, angry that he didn't trust her enough to let her use it, even though she had given him no reason not to trust her.
Sasuke smirked and continued on forwards, Juugo following closely behind and Suigetsu cursing and picking up Zanbatou before following on behind them.
Sakura was about to walk forward when she noticed the small black book lying forgotten on the floor a few trees away. Stopping in her tracks she turned and picked the book up, twirling it in her hands before placing it into her shirt's inner pocket and running to catch up with the trio before Sasuke came back to get her.
They travelled for the rest of the day until they came to the village of sound, instead walking straight through it and not around it like Sakura thought they would be doing.
Sakura looked around and didn't see a single sick person, not one. 'So much for an influenza epidemic. A trap perhaps?' She thought cautiously to herself, unconsciously walking closer to Sasuke.
Sasuke had also noticed the same thing, his hand inching closer to Kusanagi cautiously. Sakura was surprised by how normal this village was, it was just like Konoha. There were children and their parents walking through the streets, food stands, shops and a ninja academy.
She wasn't sure why, but she expected to see a city full of deformed people and experimentations, not a normal village full of normal people and children of all things.
They turned into a shop and Sasuke called to a cheery man over the counter, the man turned and with a big grin made his way forward.
"Sasuke-sama, will you be having your usual order?" The man asked, gesturing to the pile of supplies and food that had already been prepared for him by the assistant.
"Double that please Genburu-san," Sasuke said to him and placed his backpack on the table.
"Sure thing!" The man called, filling the order himself and pushing it across the counter towards Sasuke who pushed the required ryou across to the man.
Filling his backpack he stared at the still remaining mountain before turning to look back at his team.
"Che fine, you can use mine," Suigetsu grumbled, passing his bag forward. Juugo did the same, without any complaint and the three turned to look at Sakura who gritted her teeth and passed her own backpack forward, crossing her arms and looking away.
Her backpack was handed back to her only slightly heavier than before and she looked inside to see a couple kunai, shuriken, some dried meat and some fruit rolled up in a long sleeved black shirt.
Shrugging she closed it up and swung it onto her back. A few seconds later a young girl came up to her and tugged lightly on her skirt.
Sakura turned her head curiously towards the child who held up a letter to her shyly, before running off without a word.
"Give that here Sakura," Sasuke demanded, extending a hand towards her expectantly.
"No!" Sakura shouted before turning and running off into the crowd, the letter gripped tightly between her fingers.
"Shit," Sasuke cursed, running after her and eventually catching her at the end of the street, where she was standing in shock staring at the letter.
Leave now, you have been warned, Sakura Haruno.
Sakura blinked; sometimes she thinks she should really dye her hair a different colour.
Sasuke tore the letter from her grip and glared at the spiralling writing before crumpling it into a ball and shoving it into his pocket.
Grabbing Sakura by the wrist he dragged her down the street and out the other side of the village, back into forest area.
Pushing her against a tree he trapped her hands on either side of her head, using his body weight to keep her in place.
Moving his face to the side of her head he growled into her ear.
"Don't ever do that again."
Hope you guys liked the Chapter, I would be very grateful if you guys reviewed even if it is just a single word. *sobs*
Until next time.