Chapter 9
"I'm Megumi, by the way." Sakura looked up at her as she placed a new wet cloth on Sasuke's forehead and hung up the other one.
"Yeah, I heard Sasuke mention it and I noticed you know Naruto too. Can I ask how?" Megumi nodded as she changed Naruto's wet cloth. Naruto still hadn't woken up from whatever justsu Orochimaru had used on him and Sasuke was running a fever from the bite he had received. He had a strange bruise on his neck that Megumi was to afraid to do anything about.
"I met Sasuke back in the Land of Waves when I was disguised as a regular town's person and we became friends. Naruto got to know my teammate Haku, the one with the mask, and during the exam we got to know each other and also became friends." Sakura couldn't help but be jealous of Megumi, not only was she a better skilled kunoichi but she also got along better with Sasuke and Naruto than she ever did. 'She's just all around better than me.' She looked down and could feel her eyelids getting heavier.
"Sakura, you can sleep if you want. I can keep watch until you wake up." Megumi offered with a smile. Sakura shook her head in an attempt to wake herself up.
"No, I can't fall asleep. I have to protect these two." She stated with determination. Megumi saw her eyes closed and let her have a small nap. She looked up at the sky and saw the sun, she had two more days to meet up with Yuki and she had promised to most likely see him tomorrow. 'I guess I can't go until this team is up and going again.'She sighed as she saw all three of them bruised, cut, and sleeping. 'I probably don't look any better after that short fight I had with Orochimaru.'
She was taken out of her thoughts as she heard Sakura gasp for breath and turn to look at her comrades in desperation. "It's Ok, it was just a nightmare." She tried to calm her. They soon heard rustling in the bushes behind them and pulled out kunai in defense. Megumi held hers with confidence and a hint of fear but she could see the fear plainly written on Sakura's her face as she clutched the knife with both hands and trembled. They both slowly turned to look at the intruder and found….a squirrel. Megumi clutched her head in relief while Sakura looked a bit annoyed.
"Oh man, don't surprise me like that little guy." Megumi just shook her head as she heard her talk to the squirrel but quickly turned when she heard gasp and throw the knife. "That was too close."
"…Yeah that was..." She agreed as she looked at the kunai on the ground. She had a feeling they weren't alone and drew her blade in case of an ambush. She looked back at Sakura and saw her nodding off from where she sat. 'She must not be used to these types of situations.'
"Some look out. You're half asleep." She turned towards the voice and found herself face to face with Sound Village team. "At least you don't have to keep watch anymore, now wake up Sasuke so we can fight him." Said the man who was wrapped in bandages.
Sakura had regained her look of confidence as the confrontation woke her up. "What do you want? I know Orochimaru is calling the shots from the shadows." They all looked shocked by the revelation. "What's that strange bruise behind Sasuke's neck? You're behind that too aren't you, and now you want to fight him when he can't defend himself?" Megumi never really did like speaking to the enemy but in this case it worked for Sakura as their new enemy looked visibly shaken.
After a moment of silence, the boy with head guards finally spoke. "I can't stay quiet after hearing you talk to us like that, first I'll kill these girls and then I'll kill Sasuke." As he stood to attack he was stopped by the man in bandages as he surveyed the ground.
"Wait Zaku. You know there's no point in putting a trap if you're not going to conceal it." He said as he discovered a trap on the ground. Megumi and Sakura kept glaring but Sakura was losing focus as she felt a bead of sweat go down her face.
"Ha, you're just a joke. You even need a ninja from another village to protect you." Zaku laughed.
"Now we kill them." As they sprang to attack them Megumi smiled as Sakura cut a wire dropping a giant log on them. Megumi saw quickly as he used a device on his arm to break apart the log and keep coming towards them. "Nice try little girls. Clearly you have no talent as a ninja, someone like you needs to put in a little more effort, don't you think?" Megumi stood straighter ready to counter and protect when someone got in the way and did it for her.
"Leaf Hurricane!" She was shocked to see a boy in a green jumpsuit in front of them with a taijutsu battle stance. "Looks like you also need to make more of an effort."
"Who are you?" The Sound ninja growled.
"I am the Handsome Devil of the Leaf Village, and my name is Rock Lee." He stated. Megumi looked at him in disbelief. 'And I thought these guys were weird. "Handsome Devil?" What kind of a title is that?"
"What are you doing here, Lee?" Sakura asked.
"I will always be there anytime and anywhere that you are in trouble Sakura."
"But right now on this test, I'm your enemy." She persisted.
"That didn't stop your Mist Village friend from helping you, and Sakura I already told you; I will protect you until I die." Megumi couldn't help but think how sweet that sounded.
"Thank you Rock Lee." Lee quietly cried and cheered in his mind. 'Yes! Guy Sensei she said yes!"
The leader of their group took out an earth scroll and threw it towards the boy, Zaku. "Looks like I have no choice, Zaku I'll let you have Sasuke. I'll take care of these brats." Megumi looked over at Sakura and noticed Lee do the same. 'She's in no condition to fight'They both thought. She was poised to attack as the man readied his arm and jumped in the air dodging Sakura's kunai and shuriken, when suddenly. Lee dug his hand into the ground and blocked his attack with a giant tree root he pulled up.
"I am positive there is some trick in your attack, therefore I will not waste my time trying to dodge it. After all, I have seen your jutsu before." He stated from behind the root. 'Wow, he's tough.'
Megumi finally spoke to him after her long silence. "What are you doing?" She asked as she watched him unwrap his own bandages.
"The condition has been met, I must use this jutsu." He answered.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but consider me your back up." She stated.
He smiled back at her for her kind gesture. "Thank you, but I doubt I'll need your help." As the Sound ninja went after him again, Lee disappeared in a flash then reappeared kicking him under the chin. The ninja flew into the sky with Lee closely behind when his bandages wrapped around him and started falling and spinning to the ground with incredible speed. "Primary Lotus!"
'There's no way anyone can survive that fall with that kind of speed.' In the corner of her eye though, she could see Zaku making hand signs and putting his hands in the ground.
"Ha, gotcha just in time." He stated. All that could be seen were the feet of the sound ninja but something felt wrong. He kicked himself out of the ground and shook his head.
"What? How can this be?" Lee exclaimed
"That jutsu nearly took me out even by landing on this soft dirt." He raised his sleeve to reveal the weapon on his arm. "Now it's my turn."He ran towards Lee and missed punching him but Lee still cried out in pain. 'What? But he missed, or did I miss something?'Megumi stepped forward seeing that Rock Lee might be in need of her help after all. "You're jutsu is indeed fast, but ours is even faster because it travels at the speed of sound."
Megumi and Sakura gasped as the saw Lee bend over and puked everything in his stomach. "Lee what's wrong? Ah!" Saskura was very worried as she saw him start to bleed from his ears
'He's not going to be able to take much more, I might need my secret jutsu with these guys.'Megumi stepped up next to Lee as he clutched his ear in pain. "Oh, I forgot to mention this gadget I wear. I don't need to strike you with my fists, I can hit you with the power of sound. Feeling a little dizzy, noxious? That's right, I hit the inner organs of your ear that control your balance. Now then, little girl, it's your turn!" Megumi tried to cath up to him as he moved towards Sakura but he was too fast. 'Traveling at the speed of sound will do that.'She was almost there when Lee flashed in front of them again and blocked the attack.
"Lee move!" But it was too late, Megumi couldn't get any closer for fear that the attack might affect her too. He had been hit with a direct wave of sound to his ear and fell to the ground. As he was about to finish off Lee Sakura threw shuriken and kunai but they would just dodge or block them. As she threw more Zaku blocked them with air and sound coming from small holes in his hands and threw them back. As Sakura tried to recover her hair was grabbed by the silent girl and held tightly in her hand.
"My my, what soft and shiny hair, but you know what; maybe if you spent less time shampooing and more time practicing your jutsu you wouldn't be in this little predicament. Zaku, let's make her watch as you finish off Sasuke."
"Not so fast," Megumi moved quickly to try and set free but was stopped by the bandaged man.
"I forgot about you little lady." She slashed at him with her Katana, not wanting to give him an opening to use his sound technique on her. As he blocked her blade with his device she saw an opening. 'Gotcha.'She smirked as she quickly made the signs for a special jutsu.
"Water-Style: Ice Darts Jutsu!" She could feel her chakra turn to water as she felt it come out of her mouth like a fireball jutsu. She knew that with this technique she would most likely be able to break the device he had on his arm. The ice hit him directly as he blocked and while he tried to withstand the force of the attack he was thrown a few feet away. She looked on to see if she was successful in her attack but gasped as the dust cleared away. He was still able to stand and his device only had cracks running through it.
"He he, don't you listen? I'll admit that attack did leave more damage on me, but in the end my sound technique was still able to at least soften the blow." She tried to get close to Sakura to help her but the man would only try to attack her with his sound, when she would try to strike him with her blade he would either dodge or block the attack. She wasn't getting anywhere and it was frustrating her. 'This is pointless, I have to help Sakura!'She grit her teeth as they continued to dodge and weave through each other's attacks, but they could never get close enough to land a blow. As they stared at each other not sure of the others next move they heard the female Sound ninja speak.
"C'mon, it's pointless that won't work on me." Megumi looked over and saw Sakura still being held by her hair but with a kunai in her hands. Her eyes widened as she saw Sakura's determined face.
"It's not meant for you." Everyone's eyes widened when they saw her cut her hair in order to escape the girls grip. She saw as Sakura stood with her hair falling at her sides and her headband falling behind her.
Recovering from small shock, Zaku yelled at his comrade. "Kin, finish her!"She quickly took out senbon and ran towards Sakura, but Sakura had quickly made the hand signs for a substitution and turned into a log as she got hit. "You think I'll fall for your lame jutsu, I'm way ahead of you." Zaku readied his hands as he saw Sakura running towards him with kunai in each of her fingers and threw them at him, "Pathetic, thanks for the gift I hope you don't mind if I return it. Slicing Sound-Wave!" She quickly made the seals again and turned into a log as the kunai rebounded. She appeared above him and started making the seals a third time. "You really want to keep playing this game. Cause I got news for you, I'm not falling for it." He took out kunai of his own and threw them at her. She was stabbed in multiple areas of her body and Zaku waited for the substitution. "Ok, so where are you coming from next." He gasped as he felt blood on his face and looked up in time to Sakura stab him in the arm and bite down on his other arm. "Get off of me!" He kept punching her head but she wouldn't let go.
Meanwhile Megumi was still trying to get close, but it always ended the same. "Sakura! Please stop, you're only getting yourself hurt!" She was only ignored and could see why, Sakura didn't want to be taken cared of anymore. She continued to fight the bandaged man but she was starting to lose energy from all the dodging. 'This can't go on much longer. He's going to find an opening.' She heard Sakura cried out and saw her fall to the ground after a hard punch. She got on her hands and looked at Zaku. Her face was bruised and bleeding and she was struggling to breath, as she was about to get hit, another Leaf Village team appeared in front of Sakura in defence.
"Ino?" She gasped.
"Surprised? I promised I wouldn't let you show me up, didn't I?"
AN:
Please Review T_T
-Michelle
