Ok now I have food and am ready to write again! Boo-ya! Ok no I'm not that perky. I'm tired and still hungry and would rather be upstairs in my nice bed and not be down here with my annoying 'parents'. But I love you too much so here's the celebrated 7th chapter of 'Numb'. My precious brain-child!
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Sasuke and Sakura appeared on the bridge less than a second later and parted as they heard a thud. They turned to see Uzamaki Naruto lying on the floor of the bridge next to them. "Um…Naruto-kun?" Sakura said, poking his leg with her foot. The leg, that had been raised, dropped to the ground limply. Sakura jumped back. "Um…is he dead?"
"Hopefully." Sasuke murmured as his eyebrow twitched, annoyed. His arms fell from Sakura's hips and he walked over to crouch next to Naruto. He grabbed the boys shirt front and, standing, hauled him up. He placed the boy on his feet as he came out of his temporary coma. "Good morning sunshine." Sasuke released Naruto.
" 'Good morning'! You nearly gave me a heart attack! It's bad enough that Kakashi-sensei does that!" he yelled. Sasuke shoved his pinky in his ear and twisted it, looking rather bored. Sakura rolled her eyes and glanced around. "Where's Sai?"
"He's brooding in a tree over there." he jerked a thumb over his shoulder and a call of "I am not Brooding! Naruto!" came from that direction. (along with a chibi Sai sticking out of the canopy of a tree, meheh) They let out a collective sigh. Kakashi showed up next to them with a poof. "All right, now it's time for a super dangerous mission. You'll be split into 2 groups. Sai and Sakura will be on one. Naruto and Sasuke on the other. Now. You must do exactly as I say-especially you Sasuke, Naruto. Your mission is…" the group (and Sai who had just appeared) all leaned forward. Suddenly Kakashi Hatake had a group of scrolls and threw them at the 2 boys wit ha cry of "Overdue Paperwork!" Sasuke and Naruto fell over anime style. "WHAT! THIS IS THE SUPER DANGEROUS MISSIOOOOON!" Naruto yelled as he started signing scrolls franticly. Sakura was falling over laughing and Sasuke was glaring at her with murderous intent. Sai chuckled and said, "All right Kakashi. What's our job?"
"You guys are sparring. I want to see how Sakura does against multiple attack points. In laymen's terms: ink." Sai nodded and shifted his scrolls and they headed up to the hill. Sai playfully pushed Sakura. "Oh you are so dead, hag. You can't touch my ink."
"Oh we'll see Sai. Your ugly drawings better be shaking in their scrolls."
"They are not ugly! They're works of art!"
"Sure. Let's go with what you said and I'll be over here…laughing." Sai glared.
Naruto laughed at the correspondence then glanced at Sasuke. The boy was frowning deeply and watching Sakura but he did nothing to interrupt there friendly talking. Naruto wasn't blind. He had actually (I dislike this word actually bad experience) become very observant after playing 'I spy' with Hinata for a few years. To the date he hadn't won except the one time he kissed her and made her pass out before they could finish. Dirty but useful. So when Sasuke and Sakura pulled away a millisecond after they appeared he hadn't missed the kiss. He frowned and took a place under a tree to do his paperwork. Sasuke plopped down next to him. They watched Sai and Sakura stand about 20 yards apart and Kakashi signaled the beginning of the match by waving an arm from his place reading his Icha. Sai immediately disappeared and Sakura tensed. Her seasoned eyes scanning and finding every movement.
"Naruto. What was it like when Sai showed up?"
"What? Why do you care?"
"Just answer me."
"…This is about Sakura isn't it? They're just friends. Just like me and her."
"We both know that's a lie." (yay Slipknot! I listen to Yahoo radio while writing)
"…Kakashi showed up with him on the bridge one day. He said he was our new teammate. Sakura was shocked at first but she smiled and welcomed him. I didn't. I asked Kakashi what Tsunade-baa-chan thought she was doing, sending in a look alike. I was angry because I was sure that she was trying to fill your place and I wanted to keep it open for when we dragged you back to Konoha. I didn't know it'd take 4 years for us to get you back. He got mad and said that you weren't here so we had to have a new teammate to fulfill are missions. I never saw him so mad. But it was only because he missed you too." Sasuke winced but nodded. "I told Sai that he wasn't you and he shouldn't try to take your place. Then I ran off and Kakashi came after me."
"Did he beat you up?"
"No. Just the opposite. He hugged me and told me that no one could take your place, but that we had to be good ninja until we were strong enough to bring you back. I think we were both crying a little. When we got back Sai was crumpled up on the ground and Sakura was yelling something about not being a hag. And making sure he was broken evenly on all sides. After that things got better. But we were still angry. We were mad at Kakashi for training with him and smiling at him when it should have been you. We were angry at Tsunade for trying to put Sai in a Sasuke-shaped mold. We hated her for trying to take your place. We hated her for the pain we saw in Sai when we 'forgot' to invite him for ramen. But more than anything I hated her for causing Sakura so much pain. After she smiled at him and beat Sai up I walked home with her. I had to carry her at one point because she couldn't see through her tears. She couldn't stand to look at him at first. It wasn't just once when I woke up to her face in my window. God, she missed you. She nearly went insane waiting. But during the day she smiled, she trained. But she was always in pain. I could see it. She loved you. She never stopped for an instant. Every time she cried or trained till I had to carry her home on my back she thought of you."
"So she had an obsession too."
"But she didn't betray a single person to reach the objects of her obsession."
"But that's just like-"
"She was so strong. She never broke down in front of anyone. She never tried to hurt herself. She had me. She would come to me when it got to be too much. I think…that may be what she wants from you now." Naruto pushed his jaw-length blond hair from his face. "Sasuke. She's still waiting. She loves you. Why won't you love her too? Why won't you let her help you." Sasuke didn't answer for a minute. Just watched Sakura cut threw another ink creature with ease.
"It would crush her Naruto. Under the pressure…of walking in his shoes." (and again the name comes into play-these are words from numb-see ch.1)
"Then don't Sasuke! Stop chasing after Itachi! You have a life now. Can't you except being happy?"
"No. I'm still haunted by my memories. And until I can deal with them-on my own-I'll have to tell her…a few more lies. I can't hurt her Naruto. I won't. I won't be happy until I can let go of those memories. Until they stop terrorizing me. Then, and only then, I'll be happy." Naruto sighed and watched Sasuke stand. Both boys were done with their overdue paperwork and Sakura was coming towards them, slapping Sai good-naturedly and grinning. As soon as she was close enough she fell into Sasuke's arms. "Haha! I won Sasuke-kun! I caught Sai-kun with a simple substitution jutsu!"
"It wasn't that simple!" Sai said, pushing her farther into the Uchiha's arms. Sasuke held her tightly. "Tired?" he questioned Sakura. She smiled, "I've been worse." she winked and Sasuke smirked and pulled her tighter to his chest. She closed her eyes in the warmth as Sasuke looked around for Kakashi. Sasuke shrugged and frowned at Sakura. "So… I guess you have to get home? Your parent's flip. You want me to go with you?"
"No. And I don't have to go now. As long as you guys agree to stay away from my place so my parents don't see you." she looked to Sai and Naruto who nodded. She grinned up at Sasuke and his eyes searched her face. They lingered on her lips and she was positive she'd melt is he didn't kiss her. Reading her mind he pressed his lips against hers and nibbled her bottom lip. She excepted his tongue into her mouth and Sasuke gripped her tighter.
Sai and Naruto turned around, embarrassed. Sai started walking and Naruto fell into step beside him. When they were across the bridge Sai looked at Naruto expectantly, knowing he had something to say. Naruto caught the look then his eyes went back to their path. "…You're getting to close to Sakura."
"How is that? She's my comrade. Just like you."
"No. It's different. Sasuke doesn't just love her, Sai. He's in love with her. He cares for her more than any other living creature. He let's me go near her because he knows I have someone to love and I'd never touch her. I love her but I have someone I'm in love with. Hina-chan (Hinata). But the Sasuke you know is different then what he's really like. He may be a jerk, we know that, but he's also possessive. And if you get too close it'll force him into a corner. If their relationship is threatened, Sasuke…he'll just lose control. He'll kill you Sai. He'll destroy anyone who goes near her. So be careful. Don't push him and stay away from her."
"I'd like to see him try." Naruto stopped and grabbed Sai's arm. He looked straight into his eyes.
"No. You don't. He'd walk threw hell fire just to see her smile. He. Will. Kill. You, Sai."
"…" Sai pulled his arm away when they heard a cry behind them. Naruto turned around to see Sakura running away from her boyfriend (who was walking nonchalantly, Uchiha's don't run after their women) . She was laughing. "Eek. He said he'll kiss me till I suffocate!" she laughed, throwing herself into Naruto's arms. He swung her around like a child. Naruto grinned and yelled something to Sasuke. Sai tried, but he couldn't smile. They were a great team.
Sasuke wrapped his arms around Sakura's hips from behind and pulled her against him, kissing her cheek. She laughed and placed her hands on his arms, leaning forward away from his lips. Naruto saw Sai retreat from the corner of his eye and frowned. He didn't want to cause the boy pain. Annoying Hinata and her morals. He ran up to the boy and put an arm around his neck. "Hey, want to go get some ramen!" he said hyperactively. Sai nodded dumbly and Naruto half-turned and yelled the same back to the couple behind who agreed to go too.
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"So…you told her."
"I had to. It's a violation of his probation."
"So you decided to ruin him because he slept with your daughter."
"Don't be so crude, Hatake. It is my duty to report it."
"…You're jealous of a child."
"I am not jealous. That kid needs to be punished for stepping outside his probation. He needs to take responsibility. It's part of growing up." the man said as he leaned back in his kitchen chair.
"Well now you have to explain to your daughter how you incarcerated her boyfriend."
"She'll get over it."
"No. No she won't. This time she may…break. She may come to hate…even you Taji."
"She's my daughter. I won't have her fall for someone like him."
"She already has."
"She's a child. She can't be expected to make this kind of decision."
"…Yes I understand. She's young."
"Exactly."
"Young enough to kill. To watch people die. Young enough to smile everyday. Even though her job is to end life, she's young enough to want to continue her own."
"When did you become a philosopher Kakashi. It's only to protect my child. You, at least, understand that don't you?"
"Yes. That I understand."
"Good."
"So now you'll understand when I say…that I won't help you. I won't allow you to hurt Sasuke. Or Naruto for that matter. You say it's to protect your child. Well I've raised those boys more than their own parents. They are my children. Don't go near my sons Haruno." Hatake Kakashi stood and walked out the door, leaving a dumbfounded Haruno in the kitchen all alone.
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It's short but I'm hungry!
