The Fox Bandit

Chapter 22: Found

Sakura was angry; more than angry. In fact she was thoroughly pissed.

Naruto had gotten himself injured.

Again.

"Damn it, Naruto!" she cried, rubbing a salve on a rather nasty knife wound he'd acquired in a fight. "Why the hell can you not stay uninjured for just one second? We've been in Gyanburu for two days and you've already been in three fights."

"Hey, the other guy started it," pouted Naruto. "It's not like I wanted to fight him."

"Well, you sure looked like you were enjoying the opportunity to fight somebody," growled Sakura, massaging the cream into his wounds. Sakura had forced him to remove his shirt and lay flat on his stomach. He wouldn't tell her out loud, but her ministrations on his back were quite enjoyable and he was more relaxed now than he had been in his entire life. Hell, the bleeding lacerations that laced his back didn't even hurt. He had no clue as to why she was so concerned.

Oh right….multiple deep lacerations that covered a person's back usually put a person out of commission. Naruto scoffed. This was nothing more than a paper cut to him. He'd had much worse. He'd told Sakura some of the stories, trying to leave out most of the gory details. But he kept nearly as many to himself and refused to divulge them, using the excuse that he didn't want to traumatize her or make her more worried for his well being than she already was, even though in the back of his mind, he got the nagging feeling that this particular plan was counterproductive.

It wasn't like he couldn't dodge the guy. Naruto was perfectly capable of coming away from a fight uninjured. But what fun was there in that? As soon as this thought crossed his mind, Naruto snorted. He surely didn't think he actually enjoyed getting hurt…did he?

Nah. Far too much pain for his taste.

Sakura continued to rub the medicine into his back as he closed his eyes contently. She chose this opportunity to study him. The steady rhythmic motion of his back rising and falling with each breath he took was mesmerizing to her for reason. His body would twitch every time she added more of the cream to his back and rubbed it in. As she did this, she took note of the many scars that graced his otherwise flawless skin. Burns, stab wounds, gunshot wounds, multiple healed lacerations and many other wounds. Sakura couldn't believe it. She'd never seen so many scars on just one body. There were even rope scars around his neck where she presumed he'd been hung. No wonder he never took off his bandana. The longest scar-a nasty white ropy one-was along his back from the top of his left shoulder and stretched all the way to his right hip, evidence that his back had been cleaved open at one point. She ran her finger over the freshest scar from the battle on the bridge. It was completely healed, though still a little raw. When she ran her finger over it he shivered, but didn't open his eyes. One would think he was asleep. She continued to massage his back, still looking over his injuries with her medically trained eyes. There were permanent raised whelps that signified a whipping. Medically, Naruto should be six feet under, decaying into nothing. Medically, he shouldn't be laying here dozing with long, bleeding, deep cuts sliced into his back. Medically, he should be in agony.

Naruto moaned contently.

"Feels good, Sakura," he mumbled. She smiled.

"You've been through a lot, haven't you Naruto," she asked, not really expecting an answer. She didn't get one so she continued. "These scars are terrible. And on top of that, I've never seen so many on one person before."

"Have you looked hard enough?" he asked cryptically.

"Well, no," she answered.

"You've seen me without a shirt before and you never said anything about my scars," he said.

This was true. She had seen him shirtless, up close too from when Kiba had shot him. How did she not notice the white ropy scars that littered his back? Were there nearly this many on his front?

"You don't see things unless you are looking for them Sakura," mumbled Naruto, closing his eyes again and returning to his makeshift pillow that was his arms. "You'd make a terrible Bandit." He laughed.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, irked a little. She'd make an excellent bandit. Considering all the ones here and how dumb they seemed to be, she would probably be a good one.

As if he read her mind, Naruto snickered. "You misunderstand," he said, moving a bit then stilling again so she could continue her massage. "You would be a great bandit, but you would be a terrible iBandit/i. There's a difference.

"What's the difference?" she asked.

"The "b" is capitalized." This earned him a slap. He winced then laughed. "I'm a Bandit, with a capitalized "b". All those saps downstairs are your plain old ordinary bandits. Incapable of immense strength and healing. I've told you about the Nine Great Bandits. I'm the ninth, and incidentally, the most powerful and feared, seeing as I harbor the most terrifying demon of all. I'm just saying that there's more to being a iBandit/i then robbing, gambling, or killing."

Naruto paused. Sakura waited then realized he would only get on with his story if she continued to rub his back. She obliged, secretly enjoying herself. Sakura listened intently, splaying her fingers on his back and continuing rubbing it in circular motions, earning a content moan before he went on with his story.

"The Nine Great Bandits we're called collectively. There's a man-I've told you about him before-that's purely evil. He has this ability to…it's hard to explain…to control us. From my own reconnaissance, I've found that he wants to control and enslave us."

"You mean he wants to use you for manual labor?" she asked confused. That sounded bad but didn't seem purely evil. Slavery's been around forever. She never approved and certainly didn't want Naruto to become a slave, but it didn't seem like the absolute worst possible thing. At least he wouldn't be dead.

"Not at all," he answered. "By enslave I mean that he will have total control of our minds and bodies. His intentions are to use us to steal, murder, or whatever other evil thing he could think of because he's too cowardly to do something himself. This was the same man who attacked my home seven years ago and killed my father."

Sakura felt Naruto's muscles tense up. This subject was making him angry.

"You don't have to continue," she said. "I know the rest of the story.

Naruto looked at her from the corner of his eye. Sakura smiled at him, trying to ease his mind a bit. It seemed to work as his back relaxed under her fingers.

"That still doesn't explain why I wouldn't be a good Bandit," she said, crawling beside him and stretching out on her stomach so that they were now face to face. Naruto was quiet for a moment then smiled at her.

"You're too good," he whispered gently, pulling a strand of her hair away from her face. "You're far, far too good. And you don't look hard enough. Always look underneath the underneath and a bandit you will be."

Sakura had to giggle at his childish rhyme.

"You're not terrifying at all," she said, poking him in the shoulder. He smiled.

"I am when I want to be," he mumbled. iAnd sometimes when I don't./i Sakura returned his smile.

"Hey lovebirds," came a voice. Naruto ignored his twin and turned his head to face the wall, falling asleep almost instantly. Must have been more tired than Sakura originally thought.

Sakura lingered just long enough to kiss his scarred cheek and brush his hair away from his closed eyes. She got up gingerly, not wanting to stir him and walked over to Naren.

"He ok?" asked the blonde girl, looking at the still healing wounds on her brother's back.

"He's fine," answered Sakura. "He's already healing."

"Idiot," sighed Naren. "Adds to all the other scars he's got."

"You knew about the scars?" inquired Sakura. How come she seemed to be the only one who missed that.

"Well yeah, they're kind of hard to miss," answered Naren, shrugging. "People kept asking me about them back home. I have nearly just as many."

Sakura knew this, having been there when Naren stumbled into the village a bloody mess all those years ago.

"Am I the only one who didn't notice?" asked Sakura, watching as her love snoozed on the bed.

"No," answered Naren. The only people who asked were Hinata and Lee." Sakura felt a twinge of jealousy when Hinata's name was mentioned. It wasn't that Sakura didn't like Hinata, but she knew that the busty girl was infatuated with Naruto, that much was certain, but there was no way Sakura was going to relinquish her hold on the Bandit. She saw him first.

"Poor Naruto," she murmered.

"Well, come on then," said Naren, grabbing Sakura's arm and pulling her away from the room. "Let him sleep. He always heals faster that way."

Sakura allowed herself to be steered away by the blonde girl, giving Naruto one last look. How someone could possibly have it out for him she'll never know, and why anyone would want to enslave him was beyond her. One thing was certain, she wouldn't let anyone come near him, not if her life depended on it.

"Where's Kiba?" asked Sakura.

"He's at one of the gambling tables downstairs," Naren scoffed. "I swear, Naruto's been a bad influence on him. The sooner we leave this place the better."

Sakura giggled. This town could surely bring out the worst in people.

When they reached the main floor of the inn, Sakura wasn't surprised to see Kiba surrounded by men watching a marble land in a spinning game board, waiting to see which slot the marble would land in. They were playing Roulette.

"He better not be wasting all our money on that game," growled Naren. She stomped over behind Kiba and looked over his shoulder.

"Are you winning?" she hissed, making Kiba jump.

"Oh, uh, hi Hunny," he stammered.

"Watcha doing playing that game? You better not have lost all of our money."

Kiba grinned sheepishly. "O-of course not," he said. "Naruto gave me some of his winnings to gamble with when he was teaching me some of the games yesterday."

"Have you won anything, then?" she asked, calming down now that she knew it wasn't their money he was wasting.

"I've won more than I've lost if that's what you're asking," he answered. Naren seemed content with his answer. She shrugged. "Just don't get ahead of yourself and play dangerous games, ok?" she said. "You're not Naruto. You might not live."

"I wouldn't do that," said Kiba.

"Where is Naruto?" asked one of the men. Naren looked over at him. It was the man with the eye patch who was friends with Naruto. Kenshin? "Last time I saw him, he was fighting with Jing again. Got his back all sliced up pretty bad. He ok?"

"He's fine," answered Sakura, warily. "As well as he could be anyway."

Kenshin nodded, and looked back down at the roulette board.

"You won Inuzuka," he said. Kiba grinned proudly.

"See there! What'd I tell ya," he boasted.

Naren shook her head.

o0O0o

Naruto jerked awake and looked around. The last thing he remembered was Sakura massaging-very well he might add-his back while he explained his situation to her. The absence of her cool, slender hands on his back and her presence in the room let him know that she wasn't there anymore.

"Damn it," he growled, cursing himself for falling asleep. He didn't want Sakura and Naren to be downstairs by themselves. Anything could happen. This was a bandit town after all.

Naruto got up, ignoring the pain from his back as the healing wounds stretched. He grabbed his shirt. The back of it was stained scarlet. He cursed again. Now he would have to buy a new one. He slipped it on anyway and buckled his holsters back on, knives and all. He then lifted his cloak. It was full of holes, rips, and tears and was stained worse than his shirt. But he really loved the black cloak. Jiraiya had given it to him before sending him off on his own. Maybe he could wash the stains out somehow and have Sakura patch up the holes. He certainly didn't want to get rid of it. He pulled it on as well and grabbed his hat. His back was throbbing, but it was more annoying than it was painful. He ignored it and made his way downstairs.

Imagine his surprise when he found both Naren and Sakura and a bunch of other bandits gathered around a roulette board. He walked over and tapped Sakura on the shoulder.

"What's going on?" he asked. Sakura turned around.

"Oh you're awake!" she cried. "We're watching Kiba gamble. He's doing a great job."

Naren turned as well. "We're just making sure he doesn't get ahead of himself."

"Hey Naruto!" piped in Kenshin. "How's your back?"

"Fine, Ken," answered the Bandit. Sakura and Naren went back to watching Kiba and Naruto decided to go to the bar and grab him something to eat.

"What'll it be, Fox Bandit," asked the bartender, cleaning a dirty glass with an equally dirty cloth. Naruto shrugged.

"I don't care, just bring me something," answered the blonde. The bartender nodded and left to get some food, slinging his dirty cloth over his shoulder. Naruto took the time to look up and down the bar. There was only one person there. Naruto grinned.

"Haven't you caused enough trouble for me?" he said. The person at the bar bowed their head. "This is no place for a lady to be alone."

"Like you care," huffed the woman.

"Come on Angel," growled Naruto. "You know I'm pissed at you for trying to take me in last time we saw each other. So I would leave now if I were you, before you piss me off more."

"I'm not here for you or too fight against you this time, Naruto," she said, looking over at him.

"Why the hell else would you be in a bandit town other than to find a bounty to claim?" growled Naruto.

"I came to warn you," she answered.

"Warn me? Of what?"

Angel snickered. "Madara's on his way to Gyanburu."

"…"

"He's found you."