Thanks for the revs. Sorry this fic is ending soon, but things've got to keep moving.
Fight scene, woohoo!
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Sakura instinctively dived out of the way, leaping back several yards until she landed beside the towel rack, which she quickly made use of. Of course, Kabuto had been correct in saying she was completely healed, so a fight wasn't a physical issue now. Only two scars could be seen on her abdomen before a towel quickly covered them. Sakura tucked in the corner above her breast and hoped that it stayed for whatever battle might take place. Kabuto had somehow managed to pull his dark shinobi style capris on while his eyes darted about the woods where the kunai had come from. Not moving his eyes from the trees, his hand felt around the wall of the inn until he found the light switch for the outdoor walkway. He flipped it on.
'Damn,' thought Sakura, 'where was he hiding the pants..?' She shifted her thoughts from her thin towel to the woods, where figures were beginning to emerge. Whoever they had been expecting, it certainly wasn't Sasuke Uchiha. Sakura was frozen to her very core as his eyes, despite their red color, stared icily at her. A long time ago, this might have been an ideal meeting for her. Wrapped in a towel miles from any town, yeah, that would've sounded great. Just peachy. But as Kabuto threw her two kunai to defend herself, she knew that this was not a desirable situation at all. Sasuke watched her catch the throwing knives with a smirk, as if the thought of anyone here fighting him was funny.
"Sakura-chan, you've changed." He spoke blandly, for someone who always seemed pissed off. Sakura clenched her teeth. Whether he was talking about her body or her willingness to fight was of no importance to Sakura.
"Wish I could say the same for you, Sasuke." If he really was on his way to kill his brother, than his reason for being here couldn't be good news for the two of them. Her calculating mind raced about, working to form coherent thoughts. This was such an unprecedented situation! Sasuke frowned at the absence of the honorific his former teammate had always used.
"Sakura, I require your medical skills in something important to me. I'm very near to obtaining my goal of revenge. You will come with my team and assist in healing me after battle." Karin exhaled sharply beside him. She now regretted not studying medical jutsu, and fixed Sakura with a bitchy glare. Sakura's thoughts fell into place very neatly after his revelation of medical needs. Well, she'd been in a decision-making mood only moments before, so why not make some more? Sakura looked him right in the eye and spoke clearly.
"No. I am not going with you. I am not helping you. You… you left us- me a long time ago. Don't you remember my offer to you? Or was I that insignificant in your grand scheme? You believed you didn't need my help then, so you couldn't possibly need it now." Sakura trembled as she spoke, adrenaline coursing through her rebelliously. Sasuke's eyes sharpened menacingly. Things were not going as planned. Impossible, things always went as planned. He took a step foreword, and glanced at Kabuto, who raised an arm lazily in mock welcome.
"Hey, Sasuke-kun." Sasuke looked back and forth between the two, his expression never betraying his thoughts. The cold, metallic sound of a blade sliding from its sheath rang around the onsen. Sasuke threw back his cloak and raised his blade.
"You will come with us, or lose your lover."
Sakura failed to suppress a grin, and looked over to Kabuto, who was chuckling at the Uchiha's threat. Sasuke's team looked at them, confusion scrawled on their faces.
"Ha ha, you don't get it Sasuke. We're not in love or anything." She said plainly, waving her hand as if to brush off the thought..
"Yeah, more like enemies with benefits." Kabuto added suggestively, turning Sakura's grin into a knowing smirk. They huffed a few more laughs, then continuing to surprise team Hebi, took their fighting stances. The atmosphere became serious.
"Sasuke, my head will roll before I heal your sorry ass in battle. I'm a tool to my village, not to your revenge." Sakura could feel the danger level rising from Sasuke with every passing second, but she was rooted to her decision like a tree trunk to earth. Team Hebi took fighting stances as well. Suigetsu gripped his new blade, which was recognizable to Sakura. Karin glanced nervously at Juugo, who glanced at Sasuke, who turned his eyes to Kabuto's blazing blue palms. Now this was a ground that all present were familiar with- the very scent of battle wafted about, mixing in with the steam from the onsen.
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Naruto's heightened senses and Kakashi's sharp nerves detected several chakra signals straight ahead. They were running towards it, heartbeats pounding like a drum in their head. That steady noise set a beat to their thoughts, which were repeating the same name. Sakura, Sakura. Sakura, Sakura. But then, something made them halt so quickly that the ninja trailing behind had gone a few trees ahead before stopping as well. Naruto, panting heavily, slowly turned his head to Kakashi, who looked back at his pupil. Sasuke's familiar chakra was all around them, pulsing murderously about the forest. If they were confused before, now they were completely bewildered. They were so close… One of the nin pointed ahead, and they turned to see a rising cloud of smoke or steam, off in the distance. After another shocked glance at each other, the two dashed off again, urging their legs to carry them faster. A miniscule light glowed dimly in the distance.
And then they were leaping over the high wall, then onto the roof of the two story inn, looking down into a square courtyard where steam rose from a large pool of water. Naruto caught sight of pink hair below, and after calling out her name, jumped down behind his teammate. Kakashi follwed, but the other leaf nin stayed perched on the roof. Sakura had of course felt him approaching, because the Kyuubi's chakra magnified it. Naruto had noticed the other person beside Sakura and glared at him, but Kabuto turned to acknowledge Kakashi, who was in turn wondering why his other pupil was clad in only a towel.
"Look, we don't have time for arguing over past disputes! Save it for when Sasuke's out of the picture." Kabuto yelled.
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Sasuke frowned at the newly arrived complications. Had he known capturing Sakura would lead to this sort of confrontation, he would have dropped the plan altogether. He immediately shifted his attention to the one person that always held him back. Naruto glared right back at him, his eyes a brighter red than Sasuke's own. It would be best to leave immediately. Several tense moments passed before someone spoke.
"Naruto, still as uncontrollable as ever, I see."
"Sasuke, still an asshole, as usual! You're coming home now, even if I have to bring you back half dead!" Naruto screeched.
"I don't have time to deal with you. If you give me Sakura I will return after my brother is dead. I require her medical expertise." Naruto turned to Sakura, who shook her head. Naruto's face fell in confusion.
"Sakura chan... if you go, he'll come back! You can bring him back! Sakura chan…?" But she shook her head again. Kabuto watched her tense up, her internal battle almost visible.
"No," she said, "I'm not helping him." Her voice was suddenly quiet. "How could you ask that of me, after all he's put us through?" She turned and looked at her beloved friend.
Sasuke, assessing the situation, murmured commands to his team. "I'm going on ahead, stay here and do what you must to capture her. Karin can find me by my chakra." He paused and looked at them. "Do not return to me without her." He said stiffly. If it weren't for his incredibly dangerous air, he would have been met with protest, but they silently glared ahead. Sasuke stole one last glance at his old team, and then vanished into the forest they had come from. Enraged, Naruto made to run after him, but a wall of water knocked him off his back.
So that was it, Sasuke had left them again. Naruto bellowed his name, calling him back. Kakashi's shoulders sank down a fraction, but Sakura stood still. She shifted her focus from the empty spot Sasuke had left to the three nin around it, and then to Kabuto. He looked right back at her, and an unspoken message seemed to pass between them.
'If only we'd met sooner.'
Kabuto pushed his glasses further up his nose, and Sakura made certain her towel was tucked in nice'n tight.
"You know," she said to him, her tone light, "You're completely free, so you don't have to fight them." But he merely shrugged.
"Yeah, but I can if I want to. Freedom's pretty beneficial. You should try it out sometime." He replied conversationally.
"It was all just for fun, right?" She asked him casually. He smirked and turned back to team Hebi.
"Of course it was. No strings attached, remember?"
Mirroring his grin, they dashed foreword to fight like the ninja they were.
--
Despite Naruto's yelling, Kakashi had been listening carefully to their conversation. He joined his pupil's side and rushed foreword with her, Naruto close behind. As Sakura ran ahead of them all, she jumped up high and brought her foot down on the ground beside the hot spring. The water exploded upward, and Kakashi to charge through its heat.
Juugo, unable to see through the cloudy explosion of rock and water, found a kunai planted snugly in his shoulder before his could even rev up his own cursed chakra. He dashed backwards, dodging more shuriken whipped at him from the roof. He ran up a wooden beam and began fighting the leaf nin there.
Suigetsu's form morphed out of the hot water as it splashed down in the form of rain and mist. His deadly blade swept across Kabuto, and for a moment his sharkish face was triumphant, until Kabuto vanished in a puff of smoke. 'Damn clone…' He looked to his right and saw Naruto standing on his blade, intent on killing him.
"This sword looks pretty fucking familiar, you grave robbing bastard!" He growled angrily. Suigetsu flashed a toothy grin and rotated his blade, forcing Naruto to jump off. As a clawed hand made to slash at Suigetsu, a second, bluish one appeared in the hot mist. The sharkish nin waited half a second until both Naruto and Kabuto were in his zone of attack, then swept his great blade across horizontally. He felt it slice flesh, and peered about to see which one had fallen.
Kabuto had ducked under the blade and shot foreward to Suigetsu's legs, which he grabbed fiercely. Bone shattered beneath his grip, and the white haired man howled in pain. Kabuto had to admit he was quite surprised. He'd assumed the man would melt into water, but apparently this was not a clone. The fine mist was dissipating slightly, and Kabuto quickly glanced over his shoulder at Naruto. He'd caught the blade with his own hands, but the Kyuubi's powerful chakra had protected him. As their eyes met briefly, both were certain the other was remembering a similar moment in a sunny field, a long time ago. Suigetsu groaned as was making to sit up, but Naruto was quicker, and ran at him on all fours.
Kabuto moved away from the two and scanned the area for Sakura. He moved through the mist and caught site of Kakashi and Juugo on the roof, meaning Sakura must be fighting Karin. Although they had worked for the same man, Kabuto knew very little about Karin's fighting style. A sudden, strong wind blasted through the courtyard, followed by rocks and pebbles. As the dust from the small explosion mixed with the mist in the air, anyone fighting near the onsen dashed away from it. They couldn't risk inhaling the finely crushed earth as it clung to the mist.
Kabuto leapt onto the roof and stared across to the other side, where Naruto was joining the fight against Juugo. If Naruto was up there, then Suigetsu must be dead, he figured. So then where was..? Another loud crash sounded near the inn's front gate answered him. As he leapt towards the sound, he discovered that the inn no longer had a gate, or a front door, for that matter.
More amused than worried, he watched Karin struggle out of the remains of rubble and wood. Kabuto looked to his right and saw Sakura standing right beside him on the roof, not quite as amused as he was. Besides a few scratches on one leg, she was in perfect health. She was looking over her shoulder the fight happening on the distant roof, checking on her friends. Satisfied, she glanced sideways at him and spoke over Karin's loud coughing.
"I'm just going to wait a few seconds for her to get up." She said, sounding almost bored. Kabuto grinned.
"That's terribly sweet of you." He said sarcastically, "But from what I know of Karin, she's very good at detecting chakra. Even masking it won't help." And sure enough, as the woman below stood up and brushed herself off, she turned immediately to the roof where the two were standing at ease.
"Get down here, you whore! I'll take you to Sasuke in pieces, bitch!" She shrieked loudly. Sakura raised her pink brows.
"Hm," Kabuto clucked his tongue. "You aren't planning on taking that from her, are you?" Sakura made a face, pretending to be considering a difficult question.
"Oh, I don't know..." And she shrugged before her arms were a blur of hand seals. Kabuto dashed sideways along the roof, which trembled as Sakura slammed her palm into it. When he turned around, he had to stop and admire the traditional leaf village technique. Great roots had launched up from the ground at top speed and wrapped themselves tightly around Karin's body. She struggled in futile for a few moments, wrenching her shoulders upwards. With a sickening cracking sound, Kabuto noted that the woman was now dead, a thick root curled around her neck. He glanced back at Sakura, and immediately realized something was wrong.
Sakura was bent over, her hands wrapped tightly over her torso. 'Don't tell me her wounds…' Kabuto moved back to her, but saw that she was actually gripping a kunai in her side. Thankfully, it wasn't very deep. Sakura's hands produced a familiar green light, and she carefully healed what must have been Karin's last attack. The kunai fell with a clatter on the roof tiles, and the wound closed up. She turned around and wiped away the tiny trickle of blood the kunai had pushed out of her mouth. As Kabuto slipped his hands in his pocket, their eyes met briefly before Sakura looked away towards the fight on the roof. He knew she could tell by his expression what he planned on doing.
"Be right back…" He muttered. Kabuto leapt off the roof and skidded to the ground below, where he walked through the destroyed entrance of the inn, leaping over the roots. He moved up the staircase where he had first kissed her, past the room they had slept in, then to the hallway where she'd teased him about strip poker. They were all short, sweet memories of a blazing summer. Yanking open the door to his room, Kabuto grabbed two packs that sat in the corner and an extra haori from the closet. When he returned to the roof, Sakura was watching her teammates fight a winning battle against Juugo. She felt the light material on her shoulder, and slipped an arm gratefully into the sleeves of the traditional cotton jacket. They stood there for a while, watching the fight.
"You're leaving." She murmured quietly. The breeze blew softly, carrying leaves with it.
"Yeah, so we may or may not meet again." His tone was brisk. She looked up at him, and this time their eyes stayed locked. Sakura's smile was genuine but with the slightest hint of sadness.
"I think," she said after a moment, "I'm going back to Konoha. You've given me a lot to think about. Who knows, I might defect and run into you somewhere." Sakura said the last part jokingly, but they both knew she was taking the idea of leaving Konoha seriously. A deafening crash shook the roof they stood on as Kakashi delivered the final blow to their opponent. The explosion from his jutsu sent dust everywhere. For a few seconds, the Konoha nins couldn't see across the roof to the two medics, and Kabuto swept Sakura up in his arms and kissed her fully on the lips. Sakura's hands lay against his bare chest and she tilted her head, savoring the moment. He pulled back, breaking the kiss, and took in every one of her features, committing them to memory. His fingers threaded through her hair and pulled something from her pink strands. Sakura saw a little piece of cottonweed fluff drift away from his fingertips, sailing away in the moonlight until it was out of reach. With a final look, Kabuto ran his finger along her cheek, then turned around and ran along the roof. Sakura watched him leap into the forest without a backwards glance.
She stood on the tiles until her teammates jumped next to her, Naruto holding his arm out.
"Sakura Chaaan! It hurts…!" Snapped from her daze, she turned and giggled at Naruto, who was grinning that familiar after-victory grin. She didn't notice Kakashi watching her carefully. There was definitely something different about her smile that night.
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Woah.. that was kind of long, for me. The next fic that I'm writing will have longer chapters :D Okay, almost done. By the way, if you've any advice on fight scenes I'd like to hear it. Kishimoto's fight scenes have always stood out amongst manga because of how well thought out they are, and I think it's hard for any writer to stay true to that. So if any part of it seemed unreal or inaccurate to the world of Naruto, drop a rev!
Another thing- if the idea of breaking away and doing things for yourself holds any interest to you, that's the theme of my next fic. Au Revoir!