The pain of love

A/N: Here is yet another chapter of this long endless story. SIGH I have an extreme case of writers block. Sorry if this is a short chapter I just wanted to post something for you guys. When you get to the part about the hole Sasuke didn't dig it he found it in the landscape and worked around it.

Sakura was headed east and Naruto headed north while Kakashi headed after the bandits in the south. Naruto jumped down from the trees and decided to search on the ground. Sakura stayed in the trees and Kakashi tried for a sneak attack.

Sasuke had hidden himself under a bush and sealed the opening with some leaves. He hoped it was enough to completely hide himself but he was sure to set traps. He was also sure to be on guard.

Naruto continued to cover as much land as possible when he saw a bunch of out of place leaves and stopped. He slowly walked toward the pile.

Sasuke heard leaves crunch a few yards away and his heart skipped a beat. He went dead silent.

Naruto crept closer in case it was a trap set by the enemy.

Sasuke took one last deep breath before… CRASH! It had worked.

Naruto felt the ground fall beneath him and hit the ground with a loud thud.

Sasuke carefully brushed away the leaves and crawled out from his hiding spot to see who he had caught. He peeked over the edge of the hole and to his surprise caught a glimpse of bright orange.

"Naruto?"

He leaned forward to get a better look and sure enough there lying flat on his butt was Naruto.

"Sasuke?"

He didn't respond. He was very skeptical about whether this was really Naruto or not. The kidnappers could have easily taken his form. He thought for a moment.

"What injuries did I get from our last battle?"

"Why are you asking?" he groaned and brushed himself off as he stood.

"Answer the question."

"Um a broken leg a side wound and the shoulder stab. Can you help me out of here?"

"No."

"And why not!?"

"Arms."

"Oh yeah. I forgot."

Naruto dug his hand into the wall of the pit and pulled himself up. He then took a seat next to Sasuke who had already propped himself against a tree.

"So how'd you get away?"

"They thought I was dead and I took them by surprise. After I ran out I took a sharp turn and somehow got away. I get the feeling that all three of them are utterly useless without their leader. He is probably a puppet master that uses his lackeys as puppets."

"How did you keep them off of you for so long when they first found you?"

"Honestly I think they were just trying to tire me out so I was easily able to take down the two."

"Hmm."

Naruto stood and turned to Sasuke.

"We better meet up with Kakashi and Sakura."

"Yeah."

Naruto reached for his hand and barely grazed his skin when he pulled away viciously and made a tsk sound as if he had been burned.

"What's wrong?"

"The feeling in my arm is coming back and also they drugged me so I have no idea what that did. But it feels like my arms are on fire."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

Sasuke pushed himself up and began to walk. He was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty.

"Hey how many days has it been since I was taken?"

"Um like five or six." (Side note: I know that doesn't match up but you have to think traveling time and the time spent gathering intel.)

"You got anything to drink?"

"No sorry."

He inwardly groaned and they continued to walk. They wound around trees and walked for what seemed to be hours before coming to a clearing where they found Sakura and Kakashi waiting there. Along with the three lackeys whom were tied to a tree. By now it was getting dark.

"Oh my goodness! Sasuke are you ok!?"

Sakura ran up to Sasuke and grabbed his arm to examine the cuts. He backpedalled a few steps fast and stumbled before regaining his balance. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath trying to push out the pain.

"Hey Sakura you really shouldn't touch his arms."

Sakura stood there with a startled look as if she couldn't believe she had caused him so much pain. All she could manage was a stiff nod. She jumped when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. She turned to see Kakashi giving him a stern look that gave her chills.

"Let's go ahead and stop here for the night."

"Ok."

"Yeah."

Kakashi walked to his backpack and pulled out a water and a sleeping bag.

"Here Sasuke take this and you can have my sleeping bag. I'll keep watch."

He handed the water to Sakura and told her to help Sasuke drink it. He rolled out the sleeping bag on the ground. Sakura walked over to Sasuke still a little freaked out about his arms and helped him drink the water. After that he laid down carefully trying not to hit his arms on anything. He almost instantly fell asleep leaving the other three to start a fire and finish up gathering things.

After everyone had fallen asleep Kakashi walked over to Sasuke and tapped his shoulder. Sasuke immediately went into self-defense mode and almost head butted Kakashi but he dodge. Sasuke sat upright panting.

"Bad dream?"

"Yeah."

"Come with me."

Kakashi stood and gave Sasuke a minute to get up.

"So what's going on?"

"I need to know what's wrong with your arms."

Now that Kakashi could get a good look at him Sasuke looked extremely pale. He had gotten skinnier and there were cuts running up and down both arms he was bruised and there were bags under his eyes from exhaustion. He was pretty messed up.

"Let's go then."

"Ok."

Kakashi walked to the edge of his look out area. There were a few stumps, rows of trees, and a cliff that if someone were to fall off of they would be in pieces before they hit the ground. Kakashi walked to a large stump and sat around it like a table.

"Sit."

Sasuke walked over to the stump and sat down.

"Try to move your arms onto the stump I don't care how painful."

"Harsh."

Sasuke lifted his shoulders and moved his arms to the stump with minor pains but nothing to bad. Kakashi put his hands on the stump like Sasuke had and flipped them over.

"Do what I do with my hands."

"Ok."

Sasuke flipped his hands over and continued to mimic Kakashis movements until Kakashi stopped.

"Ok that's enough close your eyes."

Sasuke did as he was told and waited for something to happen but nothing did. He was getting tired and almost fell asleep but quickly opened his eyes and when he saw Kakashi gripping his wrist he felt searing hot pain and the amount of it almost made him scream. He bit the side of his mouth to keep quiet. He let go of his wrist and stood.

"I see."

Sasuke wanted to ask what but he couldn't even open his mouth without screaming in pain.

"You should get some more sleep now."

He stood and walked off in the direction of the camp but took a sharp turn as soon as he was out of Kakashis view. He kicked trees and hit his head on branches to take the pain from his hands and surprisingly it worked. He stumbled back to the camp and passed out a few feet from the fire but he didn't care as long as he could sleep.