Disclaimer
I may not own Naruto, but I do know how to make people hang onto cliffies! XD

Dedication
To Alexz. Why you ask?
Alexz will understand as she reads on. The rest of you might be confused as to why this is dedicated to her. Wait… most of you don't know Alexz. XD

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Chapter Nine: Six Feet Under

Mitsumi jumped up through the window, the remaining glass pieces catching on her bare arms and ripping small holes into her shirt. But with a final tug, she pulled herself out of the hole and crumbled down to the ground below.

Then the explosion tags went off.

Mitsumi woke up from unconsciousness after just a few minutes of being knocked out. Yet when she opened her eyes, she was greeted by a fresh wave of pain and total darkness. She vaguely remembered the explosion, the shattering of the two houses, and the large piece of wood coming right for her head. But afterwards, nothing.

Figuring that the impact of the wood with her head had knocked her out, she tried to stand up despite the blackness, but found herself pinned under a beam. It was lying horizontally over her ribs, and the weight was pressuring into her and was sending throbs of heat to her brain with every heartbeat.

So that was where the excruciating pain came from.

She raised a hand to her burning forehead, and noticed that the small wound on the side of her head had reopened and was bleeding again. 'This is just great, I'm going to die of a bleeding head hidden under a pile of wood and nails!' she thought to herself as tears slid down her pale face.

Groaning, Mitsumi listened hard, hoping to hear something. A voice, maybe; anything to give her hope. But all she could hear was the lumber over her shifting slowly, and she gave a low moan of pain as the pressure on her ribs increased slightly.

--Sasuke's P.O.V--

…Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks. Lying in front of him were pieces of what once was a tattered black jacket. A jacket that he recognized. The jacket that he had given to… His thoughts stopped as he looked at the two crumbled houses. His heart stopped, then began to race wildly as he took a few steps forward and shouted as loud as he could,

"Mitsumi!"

The Shinobi's voice rang through the empty street. Most people had run away from the explosion rather than to go forward. Sasuke immediately threw his senses as far as he could, and he thankfully felt the slightest touch of her chakra coming from the other side of the pile of lumber. Not wasting a second, the shinobi rushed to where he felt her, then sunk to his knees and shouted out her name as hard as he could, then placed his ear down and listened intently.

Mitsumi heard him call her, and the tears of fear now turned into tears of joy as she began to sob with relief.

"I'm down here Sasuke! Get me out of here!" she shouted as loudly as she could, yet her voice was heavy with pain.

The shinobi immediately began to pull out the pieces, and after a good fifteen minutes, he took off the heavy pillar that had crushed her down. His clothes were torn, face was dirty, hair disheveled, and he was exhausted; but his heart still faltered slightly when he saw her.

Mitsumi's face was matted with dry blood, and the side of her head was still slightly bloody with the fresh red liquid. Bruises and cuts covered her entire body, and the strained gasps that came from her dry lips couldn't be good. But that didn't stop Sasuke from sinking to his knees beside her as she sat up weakly. He wrapped his arms possessively around her, drawing her close to his chest as she clung to him, shivering in pain.

The girl's whole body was on fire, and she felt like she was going to pass out. Weeping softly, she allowed herself to fall against his body, breathing in his scent as she realized that she was safe.

Sasuke dropped his face to her sticky hair, but he knew that this wasn't the moment to hold her in his arms. She was badly injured, and she needed to get to the hospital right away.

Getting up, the shinobi picked her up in the bridal fashion, and she suddenly dropped unconscious. Swearing under his breath, he turned on his heels and began to run towards the hospital.

- - -

After a few minutes, he burst through the lobby only to find Kakashi sitting in a chair, almost as if he had been waiting for his former student. He was talking to a 25 year old Medic-nin who had the back of her reddish-brown hair short, but her bangs long. Dark-framed glasses covered her grayish-blue eyes, and a frown immediately covered her face when she saw the bloody girl in Sasuke's arms.

Kaoru Motoko had been a Medic-nin for a few years now, and her healing skills easily surpassed anyone else's in the village. So when she ordered Sasuke to go drop Mitsumi on a bed and afterwards leave the room, the shinobi did what she told him to do wordlessly.

"Come sit down, Sasuke. Let the beautiful woman do her job," Kakashi said as he watched Motoko leave. Or rather, he watched her body leave, his eyes tracing the woman's curves as she raced away.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his old Sensei's attitude towards the woman, but he sunk down beside him anyways. He didn't say a word, his thoughts fully occupied by Mitsumi as Kakashi rambled on about the gorgeous Medic-nin he had just met.

Minutes passed on quickly, turning into hours. When Motoko came back, brushing her brown bangs away from her eyes with a smile, it was night. Kakashi jumped up and immediately went to the woman's side, devouring her with his single uncovered eye while Sasuke looked up at her hopefully.

"She's fine. She's conscious also, if you both want to see her!" Motoko said with a grin. She hadn't even finished speaking that Sasuke was already gone, but Kakashi lingered behind to talk to her.

- - -

Mitsumi opened her eyes when she heard the commotion, but then rolled them as Sasuke shut the door behind him. "Don't rip it out," she mumbled with a lazy smirk as he looked back at the door he had nearly broken down. But then he turned back to Mitsumi. She was propped up on pillows with the covers pulled up to her chest and bandages were wrapped around her head, but at least she had stopped bleeding. Mitsumi gave him a long, loving smile, expecting him to return it.

But her teacher looked mad. He stepped forward, almost angrily, then lashed out at her, "Do you know how worried I was, Mitsumi!? Can you even begin to imagine how I felt when I found my jacket tattered like that? What in the world were you thinking, going in that damned alley, especially with the threat of Sound Ninjas looming above us! You could've been killed!"

Mitsumi's smile left her lips as she dipped her head in shame. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice broken with the sudden unexpected rush of emotional pain that his anger left in her.

She felt him sitting down on the bed, and the teenage girl half expected him to harm her. But that never came. Instead, Sasuke wrapped his arms around her for a second time and drew her close to him. The smile returned to her lips as she hugged him back gently; glad to finally be back in his arms.

"Don't ever scare me like that again," he whispered gruffly, and Mitsumi could distinct a clear note of pain in his voice. He leaned down and kissed her hair as he rubbed her back, then gently pulled away and looked at her. His eyes were moist, and Mitsumi had to blink twice to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Worry was etched in his feature, and she could feel his heart racing frantically as she brushed the side of his neck with a shaking hand.

"I promise," she murmured back, then gently leaned back on his chest to eventually fall asleep in his protective embrace.

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A/N: Aww. Cute.
Well not that cute, but I did make Sasuke break the hard shell to let us see the sweet, caring boy inside of him. :D

…Okay I'll stop now.
Review, and next chapter will be fluffy. I know I always say that, and I know it never happens. But this time, it will!

Take care!