Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Rise

Chapter 7


The warm weather carries on for the rest of the week, and Naruto insists on dragging their team out to Konoha's resident lake for a swim.

"We have to take advantage of the heat before winter comes!" he yells at Sasuke's porch, banging on the door so hard the Uchiha—who attempts to ignore the blond as he sits on the couch inside, casually reading a book—is slightly worried he'll break it to pieces. "Sasuke-teme! C'mon! Sasuke-temeeeee!"

After another few seconds of incessant pounding and Naruto's threat to kick down the door if Sasuke didn't answer, he pulls the door open, glaring, and fifteen minutes later finds himself walking beside the blond—clothed in a black t-shirt and navy blue swim trunks—as they make their way to the lake.

"Sakura-chan will be sad if you're not there," Naruto complained earlier once he made it inside his friend's apartment, rummaging through Sasuke's cabinets to see if there were any snacks even though the Uchiha had told him multiple times there weren't. "She told me she was looking forward to spending time with y—ah-ha! You liar!" Naruto reached into a cabinet and held out a bag of chips, grinning victoriously. "I knew you had to have something!"

Naruto happily tore open the bag and shoved a handful in his mouthful. He chewed for a second, and then his face turned a pale shade of green as he promptly turned his head to the side and spat out the contents of his mouth. Sasuke watched the scene in muted disgust.

"Ack, gross, teme!" Naruto cried, holding a hand up to his neck as he dramatically pretended to choke. "That shit must be ten years over its expiration date!"

"They're not expired, dobe," Sasuke replied, scowling at the mess on his recently cleaned kitchen floor. "They're dried tomato chips."

"Dried what?" Naruto exclaimed, gazing at the Uchiha as if he had three heads. "Who the hell eats vegetables as a snack?!"

"Technically, tomatoes are a fruit," Sasuke deadpanned. "And I can eat whatever the hell I want, dobe."

Naruto choked once again, but this time it wasn't due to the horrid "snack" he'd just attempted to consume. Staring at Sasuke in utter disbelief, he gasped, "What the—did you just make a joke?!"

"Hn. Dumbass."

In the end, after a number of glares from Sasuke and endless bullshit reasons from Naruto as to why he should come, Sasuke snapped that he would join them if only the blond would shut up already.

Naruto whooped joyously at this. "Ha! I knew you couldn't resist spending time with me, teme."

"I'm going for Sakura," Sasuke responded immediately, narrowing his eyes. "Don't think so highly of yourself, dobe." He'd meant the statement to be used solely as a way to piss Naruto off, but he realized upon speaking that it wasn't entirely untrue—it'd been a week since he saw their pink-haired teammate—and also noticed that instead of throwing a fit as expected, the blond merely grinned devilishly.

"Of course, of course," Naruto said in a sing-song voice. "How could I forget that little Sasuke-chan would be missing his girlfriend?"

"Sakura is not my girlfriend," Sasuke sighed, irate. "And if you don't stop fucking around, dobe, you can go by yourself."

Naruto finally snapped to attention. "I was just kidding!" he exclaimed. "It was a joke! A joke!" Grinning, he bounded to the door, calling behind him, "I'll wait for you outside! And bring your bathing suit, teme—I'm gonna kick your ass at swimming!"

Currently, they've reached the edge of the forest on the outskirts of Konoha. Trees slowly give way to a vast clearing, and a relatively large lake comes into view before them, water glistening with the light of the sun above. The sky is virtually free of any clouds; birds chirp through the air, over the trees.

Finished taking in his surroundings, Sasuke's eyes immediately land upon a splash of pink in a patch of grass near the water's edge moments before Naruto calls excitedly, "Sakura-chan!"

Sakura's head jerks up, and he can see the wideness of her smile even at this distance. She's lying on her stomach atop a bright blue towel, propped up on her elbows as she reads a book.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" She places her book down and jumps to her feet, jogging to meet them.

The movement makes him acutely aware of the fact that she's wearing nothing but a pale green bikini. Her breasts, small yet full and noticeably perky, bounce lightly in the triangle confines of her top as she makes her way to them, and his jaw unhinges slightly at the sight, mouth going dry. His eyes take in the toned planes of her stomach, the slimness of her waist that flares out into gently rounded hips. Even inch of her is lean and muscular—a shinobi through and through—yet softened with supple, feminine curves.

In the midst of his blatant perusal of her body that leaves him feeling extremely warm, Sasuke takes note of a short, thin white scar that runs vertically up the left side of her stomach. Besides that, the rest of her body is void of imperfections—he figures she must heal her wounds thoroughly enough to not leave any marks behind, and can't help but wonder why this one scar remains.

"You're late, Naruto," Sakura growls at the blond as she comes to a stop before them. She crosses her arms under her chest, breasts pushing up and together at the movement—Sasuke's ears flare at this in a manner that is becoming disgustingly common to him lately; he wills himself to cool down as he forcefully drags his gaze away from her chest—and shifts the weight of her body to one leg. "What took you so long?"

"Aw, Sakura-chan, don't be mad," Naruto whines. "I'm only late because I was trying to convince the teme to come! You should be happy I was able to drag him here!"

Sakura hums in response, and it's with every ounce of Sasuke's control that he meets her gaze when she turns her focus to him. "I have to say I am pretty surprised you came, Sasuke-kun." She smiles. "I didn't take you as a 'let's go play at the lake' kind of person."

His mouth is an impassive line. "Hn. The dobe wouldn't shut his mouth."

Naruto cackles gleefully. "Works like a charm," he says, then reaches forward and grabs a hold of Sakura's hand, pulling her with him as he runs toward the lake. "Let's go swimming, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura slaps at Naruto's arm but she's laughing as she follows him. "Let me go, Naruto! It's gonna be freezing!"

Sasuke trails along at a much slower pace, hands in the pockets of his swim trunks, watching them as they run. Naruto turns his head to Sakura, eyes closed and mouth pulled into a wide, toothy smile. Sakura's returning grin is just as wide and her eyes shine with pure, unbidden delight as she laughs.

Sasuke watches them—the two people who fought tooth and nail for him, who did everything in their power to bring him back from the darkness that consumed him for so long, and who, he thinks with startling clarity, mean more to him than anything else in the world—and neither of them see the small, content curve of his lips as he follows them.


Naruto spends several minutes trying to convince Sakura to jump in with him, but she touches one toe to the water and tells Naruto she'll walk in slowly on her own to get used to the chilliness of it. The blond pouts at this, but then Sasuke sees a mischievous look flash in his eyes, and he inches slowly behind Sakura in what Sasuke can tell is an attempt to push her in.

Naruto's barely extended his hands five inches away from his body when Sakura spins around with alarming speed and has him pushed face-first into the dirt in the next second.

"I will castrate you if you try that again," she growls, pinning his arms to his back in a crushing grip. "You got that, Naruto?"

Naruto mumbles something into the ground, and Sakura grabs a fist full of blond hair to yank his head up. "What was that?" she barks.

"I said I got it, Sakura-chan," Naruto groans, dirt plastered to his face.

With a satisfied nod, Sakura releases him and rises to her feet. "That's what I thought," she says, pleased.

Naruto pushes himself from the ground and sulks for a total of three seconds before he's grinning again. "You two party-poopers do what you want," he tells them, whipping his shirt off and moving toward the water's edge. "I'm going in!"

Naruto backs up and then gets a running start, launching himself into the clear water with a boisterous shout of joy. Sakura laughs at the sudden shriek of "Holy fucking shit this water is freezing!" that escapes the blond's mouth when he resurfaces. Sasuke follows with a mutter of "Dobe" under his breath.

"Just because it's nice outside doesn't mean the water isn't still cold!" Sakura shouts at him through cupped hands.

Naruto splutters and disappears under the water again. When he resurfaces this time, there's a huge smile on his face. "It's not so bad if you've been in it for a while! C'monnnnnn, Sakura-chan!"

"I'll be there in a little bit, I promise!" she calls back, and Sasuke sees her eye the water with disdain. Still, she holds true to her word, and steps forward to make her way slowly into the lake.

Sasuke's head jerks toward the blond again when he suddenly yells, "I challenge you to a race, teme!"

Naruto has one arm lifted out of the water, his index finger pointed at Sasuke, blue eyes narrowed.

"You're an idiot," Sasuke merely shoots back, and instead chooses to join Sakura in her gradual immersion into the water, pulling off his shirt and tossing it to the side as he goes.

Off in the middle of the lake, Naruto gives a sudden yelp and Sasuke hears him growl, "Damn fish! I'm going to get you!" followed by a procession of loud splashes.

Sakura giggles quietly from beside the Uchiha, and he's drawn to look at her once more. Her lips are quirked in amusement; her eyes, however, are fond as she gazes out over the water at their teammate.

"Oh, Naruto," she laughs quietly, voice warm with affection. "I hope you never lose that infectious spirit of yours, you big dummy."

Sasuke isn't entirely sure whether or not she meant for him to hear her, but he mutters anyway, "Don't worry. There's no getting rid of the stupidity in him."

Sakura turns her head to meet his eyes. She stares at him for a short moment, as if forgetting he was there, and then a slow smile grows on her face. "You're right," she chuckles. "I think it's stuck with him forever."

"Oi! Love birds!" Naruto cries, forcing them to turn their attention back to the blond. "Stop fucking each other with your eyes and get in here already!"

Sakura's expression turns deadly, and Sasuke is relieved he's not on the receiving end of her anger as she promptly steps onto the water with chakra-laden feet and stalks toward the blond.

"Ack! Hold up a second, Sakura-chan! I was just joking! I'm sorry! Really! I swear I didn't mean—"

Naruto's words are cut off as Sakura lets out a roar and pounces on him, fist swirling with chakra. The blond only has time to yelp in fear before they both disappear underwater, waves splashing all around.

Sasuke merely sighs, shakes his head, and continues to wade in on his own.


Naruto, of course, spends the rest of their time in the water challenging Sasuke to various contests, ranging from who can catch the most fish in their bare hands to who's able to hold their breath the longest. Sasuke refuses to partake in any of them, and threatens to electrocute the blond through the water if he doesn't shut up.

Naruto mutters under his breath that the Uchiha isn't any fun and makes use of his many shadow clones to keep himself entertained. A hundred Narutos splash around in the water, running over it, yelling at each other incessantly.

Sasuke and Sakura both roll their eyes and, having soaked in the water long enough, make their way toward dry land.

Sakura reaches the shore and steps out first, water rolling off her body in rivulets and catching the glare of the sun. She shakes her hair out in an attempt to dislodge some of the water, ruffling it with her fingers, then reaches her hands to adjust the tie of her bikini top.

The movement draws his attention to her back, and he freezes momentarily when his gaze lands upon the scar he finds there. It's a copy of the scar he found on her stomach earlier, reversed and in the same position.

"Wait, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouts as she sprints toward Madara and Obito, arms flung out behind her and determination narrowing her gaze.

And it's instinct, really. Despite everything between them, Sasuke's mind recognizes that a certain someone with pink hair is in danger, and his body reacts instantly, leaving no room for hesitation. He and Naruto take off in the next second as they chase after her.

But he's not fast enough, and she impales herself on Madara's weapon. Adrenaline and cold fury flood his veins, fueling the Chidori that forms in his palm.

To his surprise, however, the spear doesn't stop her in the slightest. Sakura draws her fist back and he's sure she would have broken Madara's face if the elder Uchiha's shadow weren't protecting him.

Naruto launches himself forward to retrieve her, as Sasuke inherently knew he would, leaving him to provide offensive coverage. His Chidori doesn't do much against Madara's shield, and he's blasted back in the dirt, crouching to the ground to absorb the impact.

Beside him, Naruto yanks the spear out of Sakura's abdomen in one fluid motion, and Sasuke flickers his eyes to them for a fraction of a second to ensure that she's okayindeed, her wound has already closed over due to her impressive healing capabilities, leaving smooth, unmarked skin in its wake-before turning to glare at the enemy again, brows drawn together and jaw tight. He can't afford to worry about her for long, especially since she's more than capable of healing herselfhe needs to focus with all his energy if they're to have a chance against the two other Uchihas.

Sasuke stares at her back, quietly perplexed. He's sure she wasn't left with a scar from her wound during the War, and adding on to that is the fact that the thin line marring her skin currently is on the opposite side from where Madara stabbed her. His mouth pulls into a shallow frown and his brows furrow.

"Sasuke-kun?"

His eyes flick up to Sakura's face, and he realizes he hasn't moved from his place halfway out of the water.

"Are you coming?" she asks, brows raised in question from where she stands ahead of him, waiting.

Forcing himself to focus, he nods and moves to her side once again.

"I brought extra towels for you and Naruto," Sakura tells him, leading him to where her towel lies in the patch of grass, a large canvas bag resting next to it. "I figured you'd forget."

She reaches into her bag and pulls out a dark navy blue towel, holding it out to him. It's exactly a color he would choose for himself, and he replies quietly, "Aa. Thank you."

Sakura simply smiles. "Gotta take care of my boys," she says, and shrugs.

Sasuke looks at her as she stretches out on her back over her towel and thinks that they are, indeed, hers. In a way, Sakura has always been a sort of mother figure to he and Naruto—full of warmth and concern, stern when she needed to be and worrying over them more than they ever worried about themselves.

Sakura grins up at him and pats the space beside her in the grass. "Come join me, Sasuke-kun. I think we could both use a little tan."

Sasuke unfolds the towel she gave him and lays it out flat next to her. He lowers himself to the ground and mirrors her position, arms at his side, staring up at the clear blue sky.

His mind wanders and he feels compelled to ask. "That scar on your stomach," he begins slowly, voice low and rough. "How did you get it?"

He sees her turn her head to look at him out of the corner of his eye, but he remains still, gaze fixed on a single cloud moving slowly through the sky.

"You saw that, huh?" she murmurs, and shifts her head back.

His silence is enough of an answer for her, because a few moments later she continues softly, "Does the name Sasori ring a bell?"

Sasuke is silent. Then: "Of the Akatsuki?"

"Yup. The very one," is all she says, as if that is enough of an answer for him.

It's not. "You were impaled?"

"Yes." Sakura's voice is calm and steady yet distant at the same time. He wonders at the memories that must be flashing through her mind as she speaks. "It was a long time ago, before the War. A group of us were trailing Sasori and Deidara to try to stop them from extracting the Ichibi from Gaara. We failed, obviously," she says, remorse and sorrow evident in her words. "I fought Sasori along with an elder from Suna named Chiyo. Despite her age, she was an extremely talented shinobi, and I wouldn't have been able to defeat him without her. I'd only just met her, but I respected her a lot. Towards the end of our fight...he was about to kill her, and I jumped in front of his sword instead." She pauses. "We ended up defeating him, but Chiyo-sama gave up her life to save Gaara after. I left the scar there as a reminder of her sacrifice." Another pause, then a small laugh escapes her lips. "Now that I think about it, I do seem to have a habit of getting myself stabbed."

Sasuke sighs and closes his eyes. "It's not something to joke about, Sakura."

She chuckles once again. "Worried about me, Sasuke-kun?" she asks, lighthearted.

His Rinnegan eye flickers open and focuses on her. She's gazing happily at the sky, features relaxed as she rests comfortably on her towel beside him.

"You seem to have no care for your own body," he states flatly, unamused at her antics.

"I'm a medic ninja, Sasuke-kun," she says, and shifts her head to meet his gaze. "It'll take a lot more than a simple sword to kill me. You can trust me on that one."

"Hn." Again he closes both eyes. "You're just as reckless as Naruto."

"Yeah," she replies quietly, a smile evident in her voice. "I guess I am."


A/N: I apologize for the long wait; I just ended my study abroad trip and things have been awfully chaotic lately. Not to mention I'm extremely jet-lagged. :') I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please let me know your thoughts, and thank you so, so much to those of you who have reviewed this little story up until now! Your reviews mean the world to me. ^^

With love,

Shannon