A/N: You can thank that lovely invention called Spring Break for this chapter! . Seriously. And you can also thank my little sister Natsuo for this too, she always reads over what I write and helps me come up with more plot for this fic. AND people, WE'RE IN THE DOUBLE DIGITS! -throws a party- Thank you to everyone who's stuck with me this far, I hope that you will continue to support me and this crazy ass fanfiction. This chapter was sooooooo much fun to write so I hope that you guys like it, there's a TON of character development in this chapter so yeah...ENJOY!
Disclaimer: This may come as a shock to some of you...butI, RIn, do not in fact own Naruto...I know...it's unbelieveable...
The Story so Far: After a wonderful dinner with Team Ten, Sakura realizes that the training she is putting Sasuke and Naruto through isn't enough and decides to step it up...
Warnings: Erm...Swearing, but if you haven't come to expect this then you are really, I mean really, slow...mentions of Yaoi (-eeee!- KakashixIruka) and extreamly light Shonen-Ai (Who else people? SasukexNaruto) Oh and I have to split this chapter up a little differently but if I didn't you would be hopelessly lost...
Chapter 10
Day One:
To say that it was entirely Sasuke's fault was unfair. All three of them shared the blame in this. Training wasn't progressing any further than Sasuke's occasional grunts, Sakura winning over both of them and then Naruto and Sasuke in a tug of war to get their way with their 'leash'. Sakura was tired of it all and just wanted to train with them so that they could get those God damned bells. But it was the wrong kind of training. They were learning how to compete with each other but not how to rely on each other like they used to. To say that they could not rely on each other and that's why they were here was entirely fair.
Sakura clapped her hands together and heard the sound thud off of the surrounding trees. Sasuke and Naruto looked up at her from their slumped over positions. It was as if she interrupted something important, not skulking. She rolled her eyes at them, sometimes she wondered if they ever did grow out of that twelve year old stage.
"As you guys can see we are in the middle of the forests of Konoha," Sakura began.
"Duh!" Naruto yelled, and that too bounced off of every tree in the clearing Sakura took them to.
"Shut up and let me finish," Sakura ordered after giving Naruto a nice thump on the head. He nursed the thump in a comical manner but in reality Sakura hadn't hit him hard at all, Naruto just had a thing for theatrics.
One pale hand slid through her hair, "I brought you two here because after the last week of training I think it's time that we got back to the basics." Sakura sat down next to them to get more on their level instead of looking down on them. "We're going to spend a week out here, learning how to rely on each other," she explained closing her eyes to let the warm of the sun and the cool of the shade wash over her.
"A week?" Naruto asked in a tone that was showered with disbelief. He plucked out a piece of grass, which was far more abundant here in the forest than it was at any of the public training grounds, "Do we really have that kind of time Sakura?"
She moved her head from its relaxed state to look at Naruto, "Yeah, I already cleared it with Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei. They thought it was a good idea."
"If we were going to be spending a week out here, then why didn't you tell us to bring more stuff?" he wondered looking at his kunai holster that was only holding a few of his sharpened knives at the moment. He didn't think that they would be camping out for a week otherwise he would have come more prepared.
"The idea is to depend on the members of your team Naruto," Sakura enforced with a sigh. "We're going to have to deal with all sorts of situations that will test us just because we are out in the wilderness."
"Ahhh," Naruto understood it now.
He turned to Sasuke, who sat contemplating the sight of the trees around them, and nudged him slightly to get him to react. Sasuke leaned his head on Naruto's shoulder and felt a little dazed from his lack of food. Naruto rested his head on Sasuke's soft hair and closed his eyes for a second. It was like for that second there was nothing to be done, nothing ahead to challenge them and it was only the two of them for a moment. Then Sasuke shifted a little and lifted his head off of Naruto's warm shoulder to listen to Sakura's list of what needed to be done.
Sasuke- Fire wood and clean water (First shift for night watch)
Naruto- Food (any kind) (Second shift for night watch)
Sakura- Build Camp (Third shift for night watch)
"We obviously will have an issue with you two, but you guys will just have to learn how to get things done despite what the obstacles are," Sakura pointed out and preached. She turned around to fly into the trees to find suitable objects to make a camp out of.
Naruto stood and offered a hand to Sasuke to help him up, "Come on, Sakura'll have a fit if something isn't done by the time she gets back."
Sasuke smiled for a moment at how some things never changed while other things would never be the same. It was mind boggling, but nothing to dwell on since they couldn't live in the past forever. Sasuke wondered when he started to think like that, he'd lived in yesterday for as long as he could remember. He shook off the thought, right now they needed to set up camp, and grabbed Naruto's hand roughly to pull himself up with some help from the obnoxious man.
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The first day ended without much to write home about. Sakura found some pretty broad leaves and some sturdy branches to create a makeshift tent out of. The only problem with that was that she only found enough for one 'tent' so that meant that they would all be sharing the confined quarters at night. There was fresh water and quite a few herbs and roots that Naruto found (without any help from Sasuke of course) for them to eat. When Sakura asked why Naruto didn't hunt any animals he simply answered with an "I couldn't find any" and took a deep swig of fresh water.
Sasuke cast him a sideways glance showing that he didn't believe any of it but didn't bother to speak against him. He thought it wasn't worth it to start an argument over the fact that they had seen several animals that would have been good for dinner but Naruto had insisted that they go the opposite direction of the walking food. Sakura looked up at the sky to admire the stars, stretching out her arms and spine in the process as she reached upward to touch the amazing night sky. A small crack from her bones was heard and then she slumped over, fully relaxed from the simple stretch.
"Well, Naruto and I should go to bed so we won't be too terribly tired for our shifts," Sakura suggested with a frightfully un-girly yawn that made Naruto wonder if this was the sleepy Sakura he had rarely seen except in passing…
Naruto nodded despite his fear for this tired kunoichi. Sasuke followed the pair to their makeshift home and sat just outside so that he wouldn't break the boundary (or the rope) between him and Naruto. He rested against one of the, surprisingly strong, support beams for the tent and breathed out a long uninterrupted breath of air. He closed his eyes for a second to go into scout mode when he felt a hand reach out to his.
"Night Sasuke," Naruto said as he looked up at him with bright blue eyes that shone even brighter with the moon reflecting so beautifully off of them.
"Get some rest, you're shift is next," Sasuke advised as he gave Naruto's hand a pat and slid it off of his with the other.
Naruto nodded a little tiredly and slipped his hand and mop of hair back into the wall-less tent. Sasuke watched him disappear and then turned back to the quiet forest.
Day 3:
Sakura felt the sun illuminate her pale face and sting her weary eyes. The hours of shifts needed to be tweaked a little bit, those all nighters were rough on her. She rolled her shoulder slightly to work out the kinks that formed from resting against the tree she was resting against. Unlike Naruto and Sasuke she could go farther out and not have to worry about silver rings going off or about rope length being an issue. Quickly she swung her legs over the high branch she had kept look out from. Sakura reached to the sky to make her bones pop with little effort, Ahhhh…she thought before jumping down from her perch to wake her insane teammates from their slumber.
The distance from the tree to the tent/home thing she built didn't exceed twenty feet but the angle she came from made it difficult to see inside the tent, despite the fact that it had no walls, only a roof, a front and back. She thought the design was smart considering it would be easier to spring into action if an ambush happened. They were in their home village but a ninja knew that danger didn't care where you were, and to always be prepared for the worst. Sakura got closer and saw one of Sasuke's feet sticking out of the perimeter of the dwelling. When she squatted down to wake up her teammates she saw that Sasuke was already awake with one leg up and the other had Naruto's head on it, almost like Sasuke was his personal pillow. A sweet smile curved her lips upward and softened her tired eyes.
What made the scene even sweeter was that Sasuke was watching Naruto sleep without a hint of annoyance or fatigue on his face. Sakura fought the 'awwww' that rose in her throat but clearing it with a barely audible cough. Sasuke's body tensed, he'd been found out. Slowly but surely he turned to face Sakura, who couldn't get enough of what she happened upon.
"So, what exactly is this?" she asked in a whisper, careful not to wake Naruto up.
Sasuke must have been either thinking about his comeback or whether or not to talk, in the end he chose to keep his words minimal, "Not exactly what it looks like."
The comment was meant to be sarcastic and ironic on Sasuke's part but judging by how Sakura's lip curled upward just slightly made it seem as though she had perceived it as Sasuke protecting his pride. Sakura swayed slightly, still smiling in her own ironic way, in the chilling wind that passed through their campsite.
"Really?" Sakura added her voice carrying no hidden disbelief. "Then what exactly is it?"
His muscles hardened even more at being questioned. Hadn't he said enough for one conversation? He looked down at Naruto; the other had obviously picked up on this shift in attitude. His nose scrunched up and he rubbed at his eyes before opening them to greet the khaki fabric of Sasuke's shorts. Naruto obviously didn't like the idea of waking up because he tried to burrow his face into Sasuke's warm thigh.
Sasuke's hand shot out and yanked Naruto up by the roots of his sunny blond hair and accumulated a little bit of his scalp under his chipped nails in the process. Sakura already had those ideas in her head about the two of them. Naruto did not need to add fuel to the fire. To see Sasuke's utter mortification from this action was nothing short of sheer joy. If Sasuke cared nothing for Naruto he would have simply hit him and that would have been the end of it.
Instead he chose a slightly more personal way to wake him up. A few whispered words sounding almost like, 'we've got an audience' came from Sasuke (and Sakura couldn't help but notice that the volume in his voice was higher than it had been before they came out to the forest) and Naruto jumped out of Sasuke's desperate like grip and landed on his bottom on the hard floor.
"Good morning Sakura!" He greeted sheepishly.
While Sasuke had not blushed his embarrassment was obvious. Naruto blushed slightly above his cheekbones and Sakura found it a little endearing that he was shy because he got caught being affectionate. She coughed out a small sound that covered her girly giggle.
"Come on," she motioned for them to crawl out of the tent. "We're working on trust exercises today."
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While it seemed more like a camp for the socially impaired (somewhere Sasuke belonged, Sakura thought bitterly) the three of them did crazy trust exercises designed by Sakura. One was to catch another person as they fell (Naruto wasn't too crazy about this one when it was time for Sasuke to catch him but Sakura thought that was to save face for what he was caught doing earlier that morning), the next was to hold onto some one's wrists and both were to pull to prevent their partner from falling. Several times during the exercises Sakura had to step into the heavier sects of the forest and laugh. Sasuke thought it would be funny to go slack while Naruto was holding onto his wrists strongly. Apparently he hadn't accounted for the rope and went oh-so-gracelessly down with Naruto.
She couldn't let them know that she was so very amused by this; she would lose that professional air about her if she did. But Sakura was only a child and could only take so much until she had to step aside and laugh until her lungs and sides screamed for reprieve. Too bad that wouldn't come for a while since she still had four more days out there in the forest with them. When she had her fill of laughter she would straighten up and head back to the campsite and lead them in another activity or a redo of the activity.
After many more falls and scrapes, the three of them sat around the fire (generously powered by the logs Sakura brought back now that the jobs were balanced out) and Sakura brought up the timing of the shifts. All three of them agreed that the shifts were too long and that even a jounin would have issues with the length of the watch out. In the end it changed to rotating watch outs every three hours in order to ensure a nice rest for the other two and a manageable amount of time for the look out.
Day 5:
About halfway through day five Sakura was running to the shared space for Team Seven. Even though she had the three of them pack light to begin with she hadn't accounted for the fact that winter was fucking coming! All the way home that lovely voice of reason was scolding Sakura for losing track of the months, it was already the first week of December her voice of reason bemoaned as her legs fired up to make it back to the apartment as fast as she could. She had left Sasuke and Naruto back at their temporary 'house' to better prepare it for the coming cold.
There was already a thin layer of snow covering the ground in that magical way it did when you weren't prepared for it. The green of the grass was still poking out but as any Konoha resident would know that when the first snow fell it was just to give you a wake up call. The rest of the snow would pile up after the first fall of snow. Sakura knew her time was precious since the snow hadn't fallen in the morning and she was losing those minutes of training because she had lost track of the months, I know…she spoke against the voice but didn't take her eyes off of the thinning forest in front of her.
Finally! Her mind cheered as she leaped from the last tree branch and landed on the hard dirt of a back road in Konoha. In one fluid motion Sakura's feet met the dirt and she began running once more. She praised the even quality of the road. It was a million times more merciful on her screaming ankles than jumping from rough tree branch to rough tree branch. Now that she was on level ground the run was a lot faster and she arrived at the apartment all red in the face, out of breath and incoherent when she saw a very surprised Iruka on the couch in nothing but one of Kakashi's long sleeved dress shirts…
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On the other end of the spectrum, Sasuke and Naruto were making sturdy, but disposable, walls for their tent thing. Sasuke sat against the wind working ninja wire around and through branches that he and Naruto broke off of trees to make the second wall. Naruto was scooting closer and closer to Sasuke seeking sweet heat from him. While Sasuke wouldn't show it, the sudden coldness was making his joints ache and because his affinity was fire he obviously wasn't made for this weather. Silently he admired water and mist Nins. They had to be tough to be associated with an affinity, or village, like that.
Sasuke finished tying the last knot to hold the final wall together and handed it to Naruto fast. The blond quickly held it up against the 'house' and Sasuke worked around him to wave ninja wire between the edge of the roof and the top of the wall to bring them together. A few quick hand motions later the two drew away from their disposable home and looked at one another. There had been no arguments through out this project, which was completely understandable since survival came before pride in most instances.
Once the appreciation for their work was done lingering Naruto and Sasuke began to shiver more than a perverted man threatened by Tsunade. Sasuke reached over to Naruto and pulled him into his chest. Thought it helped Naruto overcome the cold a little bit it didn't do anything for Sasuke. So, Naruto took it upon himself to snake his arms into Sasuke's short sleeves.
"EH! W-w-hat are you doing id-id-iot!" He yelled through chattering teeth.
The sudden coldness of Naruto's hands sliding down his back made him jump and squirm like some one trying to avoid the heat of a fire. But Naruto just rolled his eyes at Sasuke's discomfort. He knew that he could help him more than he could hurt him so it was worth the punishment later on if he could do good for the arrogant prick.
"Just p-put your hands in my sl-sl-eeves," Naruto ordered him. "Body heat loser, I t-thought you were sup-p-posed to be the smart one." Nearly every word was punctuated with the noisy clanking of his pearly whites.
Sasuke gave him a healthy glare but those blue lips did nothing for intimidation, "Fine."
Slowly he slid his arms into Naruto's equally as short sleeves and found that the Dobe was right. The once cold digits of his hands were warming up nicely as he pressed harder into Naruto's back. Somehow Naruto's clothed body managed to stay warm but the exposed areas were like a frozen over lake. The two of them moved closer together to feed off of that delicious warmth their shirts like a thin blanket against the wind that howled and screeched passed their ears.
Sasuke cursed his own uselessness in this situation, he couldn't even perform a basic kotan to make a fire, the wind just kept blowing it away in all its glorious fury. He squeezed his eyes shut to keep the slashing air from making his eyes tear up. In the back of his mind he was vaguely aware that Naruto was kissing the side of his face as a comfort. Sasuke gingerly kissed the side of Naruto's face the same way, showing the boy that he was still there. It wasn't for the sake of romancing him it was their way of communicating without speaking. Speaking was out of the question since keeping their eyes open was hard enough already…
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There were many attempts to talk on Sakura's part, and many attempts to properly stumble into tricky pants on Iruka's part. After Sakura got over the fact that her former teacher just got done doing her Team Leader (and that his legs looked great in that pinstriped white dress shirt) she could properly tell him that Sasuke and Naruto were out there in the winter winds without anything to protect them from it. Iruka immediately got to work grabbing for any thick weather specialty blankets he could find. Both of them piled the fabric high and headed out the door, just a little less frantic than when the first saw each other…
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Sakura and Iruka arrived at the campsite breathless and at a loss as to where Sasuke and Naruto were. They shook off that thought since both of the walls were currently standing and shielding the fort from the harsh winds and it was only logical that the two would be inside. Sakura kicked a lump of snow out of her way as she got on her knees to crawl to the humble establishment. She noticed that half of the wall closest to the look out point for her was not there at all. Sasuke must have known how they were going to use the blankets, an extraordinary assumption but correct none the less.
Iruka draped a heavy, furry looking blanket over the top of the wooden roof and it touched the ground on the front and back sides of the house. Sakura grabbed for another heavy blanket and spread it out over the top of the one Iruka had just laid down. It too covered its crucial areas. Feeling pleased with herself Sakura crawled inside to grab her teammates so they could help finish up with the winter-ization of camp. Once inside she saw one of the cutest things ever.
Sasuke's arms were inside Naruto's shirt and Naruto's arms were inside Sasuke's shirt and they were as close together as their bodies would allow without merging into one super human. She could see that they were vaguely aware that she was there. Their bodies had transferred all energy into preserving heat rather than maintaining consciousness. It was nothing dire since they'd only been out there for the maximum of an hour. Sakura had time to fawn over the moment and change her opinion about Sasuke and Naruto.
She had been rooting for them since she saw them together in the hospital at Rain but was still apprehensive since Sasuke was generally known for being selfish and for as long as Sakura's bonded with Naruto she's known that he deserved some one who would make sure his happiness was their number one priority. At the time, even though it was obvious how infatuated Naruto was, Sakura wanted Uchiha to grow up since he knew nothing of how to maintain his own happiness let alone another person's. It wouldn't do to have him with Naruto if he couldn't keep him happy and Sakura held a lot of conviction in this thought. But, see the way they held each other now, it wasn't just self-preservation that drove them so close, it was something more and Sakura felt like she could properly encourage her teammates.
"Iruka…" she whispered with a wave of her to bring him closer to the scene. "Look," she pointed into the "house" with appreciation in her eyes.
Inside of his chest Iruka could feel something melt, because he pretty much thought the same way Sakura did on this subject. He thought Sasuke was only interested in his well being, but just this act helped fashion that softer side that Iruka would show to Sasuke.
Sakura threw a blanket at the two of them, covering their entire moment in black and brown warmth. The two of them scrambled to get out of the other's shirt and ended up bruising their heads on the wooden enclosure in the process. Sasuke was the first to emerge from the suffocating blanket, his hair static from rubbing against the stupid fabric. Naruto came up next, his shirt twisted from the struggle. All his teeth were hidden beneath the shy smile of humility.
Sasuke put his face in his palm. This was the second time this week they were caught in some weird situation with each other. How could this happen? The rubbed against his tired eyes and got out from under the blanket. He motioned for Naruto to do the same so that they could effectively avoid the smiling eyes of both Sakura and Iruka. Needless to say this was another moment of theirs that they didn't need words to fully encompass what was going on in their minds: Utter humiliation.
Day 7:
Ah! The last day! Naruto thought as he stretched one arm over his head to touch the cold sun of winter. He fastened the clasp to his cold weather cloak and jumped into the puffy white substance beneath his booted feet. The snow came up to about the bottom of his knee caps, it was enough for him to enjoy. He joyfully kicked the snow around much to the dismay of Sasuke, who was glaring at both Naruto and the snow. The poor kid was more of an autumn type of guy, the snow did nothing for him except make his mood a little more sullen.
Sakura whistled with her fingers in her mouth and waved big for the two of them to make their way over to her. Naruto smiled brightly and tromped through the crunching snow with Sasuke tailing behind him to reach Sakura. She smiled in response to his sunny disposition.
"Okay today we're going to work on our timing with weaponry," she informed them in a tone that left no room for questioning authority.
She pulled out a great deal of kunai from a holster on her thigh and handed them out like candy. In a way it could very well be candy to a ninja. But that's something totally different.
On the trees around them crudely carved targets, courtesy of Naruto, became the focus of this exercise. Naruto excitedly admired his work before Sakura threw one kunai that zipped passed his nose and Sasuke threw one to meet it and make it tilt a little closer to a different target. A quick thunk sounded as it hit the bull's eye on the one almost directly perpendicular to Sakura. Naruto stopped bouncing after that. Sasuke just smirked at Naruto and for a second Naruto was about to speak for him in a catty way to Sakura but instead Uchiha turned to the kunoichi and spoke for himself.
"Looks like he wasn't quite ready for that one," He began. "We should go over it a few more times for the sake of the idiot here."
Naruto's mouth hung open at what had just happened. He of course knew nothing of the morning where he tried to make a home on Sasuke's thigh when the nin had said a sarcastic remark to Sakura so this was new. Sasuke looked back at Naruto and frowned, he knew that Naruto was going to say something stupid any moment now.
"Oh Sasuke-kun!" Naruto declared in his best fangirl voice. "Now that you've started talking, whatever will you need me for!" He put one hand on his forehead in a dramatic way and hung off of Sasuke like an oversized purse.
Sasuke kept pushing Naruto further down his arm but the boy kept just reattaching himself to further annoy him. Naruto continued to wail about his new found uselessness to Sasuke jokingly.
"I must know Sasuke-kun!" Naruto cried as he balled up the hand against his forehead for effect. "Whatever will I do if I cannot be your voice?"
"Become useful!" Sasuke suggested with a sort-of-smile on his face.
Sakura couldn't help but let a laugh spill out at the over dramatics Naruto was putting on. She watched with a jovial expression on her face and realized that the three parts of Sasuke that she had just witnessed in the passed week were the sarcastic parts, the strategist parts, the taunting parts and the first wall (which she concluded was made of glass) that separated Sasuke from the rest of the world. She was only privileged up the strategist parts. Naruto however was working on cracking that glass right in half…
End of Among Other Things
Preview of Next Chapter: "I'm not so good with these sorts of talks Naruto so we can just sit here and pretend like we're talking so Iruka's happy," Kakashi told him as he rubbed the sliver hairs at the back of his head. "I CAN HEAR YOU!" a loud voice shouted from inside Kakashi's and Iruka's room. "Erm..right.." Kakashi got closer to Naruto. "Now we'll just pretend like we're whispering, he can't hear that," Kakashi tried again. "I CAN STILL HEAR YOU KAKASHI!" Iruka yelled through the door.
A/N: Okay...so what did you think? I thought it was really cute the way Naruto started acting all dramatic when Sasuke said more than three words to Sakura. It was so very Naruto to act like that, yes? Thank you Natsuo you're probably the coolest lil sister on the face of this Earth, people, without her there would be no story, so yeah...Until next time! .