A/N: Next chapter up! I'm doing my best with number 8!
Thanks for all the support so far!
Chapter 7: Bravery
If you'd ask him what had changed in the time span of nearly two weeks, Sasuke would have had a story to tell.
A story worthy to be mentioned in his autobiography, if he ever made it to write one.
And found a person to read it, too.
Not like there were many left.
But if you questioned him what alterations took place just within two days, especially concerning a specific rose-coloured girl, he would not know what to say.
She morphed from a clumsy, intimidated wannabe zombie-fighter to a full blown apocalypse-queen.
With all the shiny bits and pieces.
"Over here!" She called, dedication reflected within her voice as she pulled Sasuke along inside what seemed to be a police station, five or six zombies in tow.
They groaned and bellowed after them in their weird, stupefied language, some racing like marathon runners, others like crippled tortoises.
Most likely because some were crippled.
Sasuke did not stop to consider their next actions, not questioning Sakura's speedy decisions as they jolted over desks, crashing expensive technology to the ground, hopping up stairs and bursting out of windows, bounding onto roof tops not far off.
All the while, she held his hand in hers.
Sasuke did not know when all this 'holding hands' business started – with her simply claiming his and not letting go, and him not finding the strength or will to argue.
Why, he did not know.
He did not want to ponder it either.
The feeling that reverberated inside his body was worth the ignorance.
Roof top tiles crunched and splintered, sliding down the slopes and down onto roads, cluttering audibly for all the zombies in the neighbourhood to hear.
Sasuke winced at several of those give-away noises. But Sakura kept pushing on, galloping along the thin rim of the roof.
"Ready?" She called, not awaiting a response as both of them hurdled towards a lower, flat roof top belonging to an apartment building.
They rolled onto the ground, Sasuke muffling a cry as his sore back came into contact with the unruly concrete.
"Are you alright?" Sakura's worry-interlaced inquiry came.
She stood towering over him, holding out her thin, yet firm hand.
He nodded grimly, not liking how their positions as weakling and hero kind of changed overnight.
Nor did he enjoy wearing a white button up shirt.
He was not the kind of person who did well in white clothing, preferring dark, sinister colours that scared people away.
This just made him seem tame and friendly.
Not his style.
But they were not able to make a grand shopping tour around the mall, what with hundreds of neon-bastards flocking around. Sakura grabbed the nearest shirt, luckily hitting Sasuke's size, and that was all he had for options.
'Great...'
The rosette was already at the fire case stairs, making her eager way downwards.
Sasuke followed leisurely.
Brave Sakura was all the more pumped up than Scared Sakura. That was a positive aspect.
And even though the Uchiha knew he would never word it out aloud, feeling too much embarrassment alone at the pathetic thought; but he missed her hapless attitude.
That she relied on his intelligence and strength to get them through the night had been, alright, stressful, but also soothing.
It reminded Sasuke that there was someone out there who needed him, who would miss him if he died and even grieve for a short moment.
After so many years of solitude, it was an alleviation.
Pushing aside the fact that he was somewhat, somehow, maybe, just a little, tiny, minuscule bit fond of the girl.
He shook that thought out of his system as fast as it had come.
They finally reached the bottom of the endlessly winding staircase, thumping onto the ground.
Sakura ducked, glancing left and right cautiously.
She pointed mutedly to her left, nodding at him. He nodded in return.
They went that way.
"So, where exactly do we need to go?" She asked lowly, not wanting to attract any undesired attention.
Sasuke glanced up at the sky, marvelling at how the sun still had the strength to blast down ruthlessly onto their strained skin.
"You see the tower in the centre of the city?" Sasuke nudged his nose in said direction.
"Yeah."
"It's the symbol of Ame. It's also a secret laboratory. We'll find answers in the top room."
The pinkette focused her eyes onto the tower, her brain obviously doing some calculations, "That's about...a day or two." she mustered.
"Plus minus some hours, depending on our zombie-friends." Sasuke grunted.
His back began to itch as the wounds were closing. It was nearly worse than the stabbing pain.
"Any specific route we should take?"
"The one that gets us there alive."
Sakura rolled her eyes, "Then I'll lead."
He arched a quizzical eyebrow to that, "Really?"
"Yeah, I've been here before many times as a kid. I know my way around."
"Hence the reason you were so eager to get here."
She nodded with a fading smile, walking in front of him.
May Zeus blast him with lightning, but he felt a microscopic hint of disappointment when she did not reach out for his hand.
"Which direction then, great leader?" he teased, smirking at the back of her head.
"This way!"
And they trudged into a gloomy alley.
She was sobbing by now, burying her face within the palms of her hands.
"It's all my fault." She whined, shaking her head miserably.
"Sakura." He was supposed to lift her spirits, but the monotonous tone in his voice did not want to escape.
Said girl simply shook with grievance.
Sasuke sighed, re-examining their situation.
Sakura had led them along a glorious pathway through the middle of the city, across some rather dubious side-roads and alleys when a few zombies burst out from the shades, attacking at full speed.
They were whacking and tackling, not having much of a problem with those brainless lunatics, until Sakura took a wrong step, letting herself be led to the edge of a dead-end and suddenly tumbling down an eight metre hole together with her solemn companion.
The landing was not hard – she smacked against Sasuke's body, who roared in pain as his back tore open.
With tears and constantly blaming herself for her naiveté, she re-bandaged his back, murmuring "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." like a mantra.
"Stop crying." Sasuke muttered in annoyance.
It was not helping, but he simply was not good with wailing people.
He never usually had to cope with those.
"But if it weren't for me-"
"Then many things would not have happened. Good and bad." The Uchiha stepped towards her, crouching in front of the rosette and placing a hand onto her shoulder, "You did the right thing. You didn't know there was a hole here. I'm surprised they have not come down yet to devour us." he peeked upwards towards their only source of light, "I guess they know it would not help them much. After all, we aren't defenceless."
The raven-haired boy stood up, mustering the ragged wall to his side, covered in thin, fuming needles of multiple colours.
The zombies did not seem eager to attack them physically anymore, as they usually did.
They were shooting out those needles whenever they could, thankfully missing the teens at each attempt.
Sasuke did not want to consider what might happen if they hit their targets.
"Well, now we best find some way out of this cramping hole, or we'll hunger to death by the time those bastards know what to do with us." He returned to mustering the walls again.
Getting a good grip seemed futile. Even though several slabs of stone stuck out at the weirdest angles, the wall rose to a rather smooth, flat area of at least three metres. No hold for feet nor hands.
The boy sighed in frustration, feeling anger boil up inside at their useless situation so that he kicked an astray stone near his shoe.
Straight away he noticed the lighter, thin colour that now appeared within the earth.
He frowned, bending down carefully; mindful of his throbbing back, and inspected the newly discovered item.
He began to claw at the earth, protruding a thick, healthy looking rope.
"Look at that..." He uttered with slight relief in his voice.
Sakura sniffed besides him, rubbing her puffy eyes, "What...?"
"A rope." Sasuke continued to dig through the earth, freeing the object from its muddied prisoner.
Sakura, only now having taken notice of what Sasuke was doing, stepped beside him and began to help.
It didn't take much time for them to be holding a twenty metre long, curled piece of rope in their hands.
"We can get out of here now!" Sakura spoke gleefully, somewhat more cheerful.
"We just need to attach it to something." Sasuke intervened, gazing back up into the sky.
"A stone!" Sakura called, grasping a hefty piece of clotted earth and freeing it a little from the grime, "There's a street lamp near the hole. If we somehow manage to fling it around it..." She trailed off, Sasuke getting the idea.
"Alright. Climb onto my shoulders" he quickly bound the rope around the bulky item, knotting it thoroughly, "and swing it around the lamp."
"W-What?" She gazed at him with doubtful eyes.
"Sakura, from down here we won't be able to reach it. And you can't lift me."
"What about your back...?"
"Anything is better than dying down here." he threw in, Sakura not responding as she knew he was right.
He got down to his knees, the rope and stone in his hand as Sakura climbed his back as carefully as she could, trying to avoid any of his wounds.
He winced, she halted, but he urged her to continue, and soon he had her lifted on his blades.
"Gee Christ, the apocalypse has not been good with you. You weigh nothing." he muttered, not realising how flushed Sakura became due to that comment.
He handed her the stone, trying to peer up as far as possible, "Don't worry, you'll make it."
She nodded, gulping.
He heard how she swung the stone, then set it off, the object flying out of the hole and towards the large black lamp which stood idly by.
A clanking sound was heard, Sakura pulled.
It sat.
"Yes!" She cheered, Sasuke hissing as she kicked into his side by accident, "Sorry!"
"Is okay."
The pinkette got down from his shoulders, now gazing up with a frown.
"So...we climb out?" Once more she stared at him with huge, fear-struck eyes.
He did not want her to be so frightened. He wanted to take that away from her. She had been so brave just a while ago...
"Hold onto me." He spoke, stepping in front of her, "Put your arms around my neck, I'll pull us out."
"What!?" It was an incredulous offer, "That'll never work!"
"Of course it will. You weigh nothing." He smirked, and she smiled in return.
Gradually, feeling a little shy, the rosette hooked her arms around the boys body, grabbing on tightly.
"Off we go." He whispered, the rope in his grasp as he stemmed himself against the side of the hole and began to climb.
A/N: Here we go! Updates might be slow, I have no internet – am currently at a friend's place.
Bear with me and please don't forget to review! They motivate me!