Finally an update! I'm so sorry I took forever to update, really I am! But, here it is! I hope you like it!
After a very disturbing scream filled my ears, I was knocked out of my stupor and slowly turned around to meet the strange, yet very satisfying, scene of Naruto, gripping his head in pain, and Chouji, a stick in hand...
Why he did that, I have no idea, probably to wake him up. But all I can say is...yay Chouji!!
I took a few deep, deep breathes as I gripped the top of my shirt, tugging it up a bit, nervously (A/N-remember, she has a strapless top). I turned slightly to glare at Sasuke. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye.
"You scared the holy living crap outta' me, God! I had to result to hugging you because I couldn't think straight!" I whispered harshly.
He smirked slightly, "So, you were worried."
I paled, "No!" I objected, "Then-but-you-and...Ugh! You were about to kill a man for God's sake!"
"A man that tried to kill you..." He objected, a scowl on his face.
"No, you took care of him first..." I whispered as I ran a finger gently across a scratch on my face. Sasuke looked at me.
"Does it hurt...?" He asked, quietly, sounding almost concerned. I gave him a confused look as he pointed to my face. "Whatever that bastard did to you, does it hurt?" He repeated.
"Well, no I..." My eyes flickered towards his face as a smirk began to grace my features, "Ohhh...I get it..."
"What...?" he asked irritably, rolling his eyes.
"You actually are worried about me, I mean, you really care."
There was another roll of the eyes, "Well, of course, you're my teammate, I kind of have to."
"No," I declared, pointing at him and jabbing the air in front of him, "I mean, like, the kind of lovey-dovey, crushy, girlfriends-ish way..."
He looked at me strangely, "In your dreams..." He said curtly.
I laughed slightly as I nudged him in the arm. "You know you love me! You could never live without me." I said teasingly. He smirked slightly.
"No." He said, simply. "I could live fine without you."
"Well you're mean..." I pouted, and as I was about to protest, until the trio of complete idiots form behind us rushed up.
"Sakura-Chan, are you okay?" Naruto asked, worriedly. I nodded slightly, smiling up at him, as he helped me up. Chouji and Shikamaru helped Sasuke up. I stuck my tongue childishly at Sasuke, before turning and, assuring Naruto I could walk, by myself, stalked over to the 'shelter' and looked for my pack. I heard footsteps from behind me, and turned to meet Ino's gaze.
"Uhh...hi?" I greeted uneasily.
"Hey, how about I help you with your hair, you know, cutting straight it and everything?" She offered kindly.
"Oh, sure, could you get the back for me, I'll get the front." I said, smiling, looking just as fake as she did.
"I know you're only doing this to look good in front of Sasuke..." I smirked.
"He's mine you hear?" She growled, as I continued to chop off my bangs so that they fell neatly in front of my right eye. "Don't think you're going to get away with that hug you gave him."
"Don't mess with me." I growled, turning to meet her gaze, smiling as innocently as possible since I was now facing the group, who were currently waiting behind her, slightly in the distance. "Because you will regret it. I have no personal attachment to you and will not hesitate to kill you if you piss me off, you hear?" I cocked my head innocently. Her mouth fell agape slightly as her eyes widened.
"Good!" I laughed, closing my eyes and smiling happily.
Hah, I can be evil too, Bitch. Rawr.
I turned around and began to finish up my hair. It was neatly displayed to fall straight, except for the ends, which curved in ever so slightly. It reached the base of my neck, and the bangs, as mentioned before, fell in front of my right eye. I had skillfully cut clean looking layers in my hair.
Hey! I like my hair to look good, ninja or not. You know, good as in I don't have to spend time doing useless crap when I could be training, only to have it ruined later. I would rather have it look nice when I do nothing...Yeah that sounds good to me!
I turned to see Neji and Tenten had joined us. They must have appeared during my 'Ino-your-a-bitch' speech...Okay, that wasn't exactly the speech, but that was the implied statement.
I jogged over to a very concerned looking Ino, along with a stoic looking Neji, and a completely out-of-it Lee.
"Lee!" I exclaimed worriedly. He looked up at me. I smiled slightly, before Love for a friend took over and I threw my arms out to give him a hug. He seemed to freeze up, and I pulled back, putting my hands on his shoulder, looking him in the eye.
"Never. Scare me. Like that. Again. Okay?" I demanded as I smiled, and pulled him in for another hug, of which he slowly hugged me back. I pulled away and sat down.
"Hey, don't I get a hug?!" A loud voice rang out. I looked back to see Naruto.
"What did you do?" I demanded.
"Well--I--umm...Uhh--nevermind..." He stuttered. I smiled gleefully and rolled my eyes.
"Come here!" I laughed as I hugged him too.
Wow...such a touching reunion...
..God, I'm too sappy for a ninja. It's like I'm freaking thirteen all over again...
..Cause...I am...
..Oh yeah...
--
We were waiting. Waiting for nothing , just the healing of chakra...Waiting sucks ass...
I sighed heavily. Our team was waiting to replenish our chakra and crap before we left; I thought it was bull crap, but whatever...that's just me.
"Sakura, would you get off your ass and actually help us get find some food?" Sasuke demanded.
I scrunched my nose up in confusion, "Naruto's not getting anything..."
"Well," He replied, "Naruto's a dobe, he'll probably find us something poisonous."
"Well, how do you know I won't find us something poisonous?" I demanded. He looked at me strangely.
"Are you calling yourself stupid?" He asked.
"If I say yes," I drawled, "Will I be able to skip the 'looking for food' part."
"No" he glared, as I pouted, which made him roll his eyes.
"Why do you do that?" he asked.
"What?"
"That. You always pout when you don't get what you want."
"It's just a habit" I clarified.
He looked at me skeptically, "It's not a good habit to get into."
"Well, what do you know?! You have the habit of being totally and completely unbearably difficult!" I retorted.
"And you have the habit of being so terribly short-tempered you're willing to beat up a seven year old!" He said. Just as Naruto finally gained consciousness (he had fallen asleep) and joined our conversation.
"I have an excuse! He was hitting on me!" I replied, "Everyone hates him anyway!"
"Whoa, Sakura-Chan, you actually beat up a kid?!" Naruto exclaimed. I growled in annoyance.
"No! I mean-It was Konohamaru!"
"Oh, well, that makes sense then..." He drawled, lying back down, most likely to fall asleep...again...
I picked up a mound of dirt and threw it at his face, "Wake up!" I ordered. He began to sputter and gag as if he was chocking.
"Ugh! Sakura-Chan! You got dirt in my mouth!" He screamed, standing up to advance on me.
"Excuse me...?" A boy's voice cut in. I looked up to see the face of a boy, about our age, if not older. He was fairly tall, and thin, but not lanky. He had light brown hair, with blonde highlights, and stunningly bright blue eyes. His skin was tanned, and his clothing was plain. A simple shirt and shorts, with sandals and his fore-head protector.
..Which reminds me... I need to put my fore-head protector back on...
"I'm sorry to interrupt..." His voice was surprisingly deep, suave. He noticeably flinched, and I looked to see Sasuke in a fighting position. "Oh! I'm not here to fight! I have the same scroll as you guys! I just need some help..." he admitted.
How did he know what our scroll was? It couldn't be because he was following us, since we have both now… I thought.
What is it you need?" I asked, keeping my guard up, but not blowing him off all the way.
"Look," he said, pulling his scroll out. Sure enough it was the same as ours, no use for fighting. "I need help getting to the tower..."
"This challenge is about survival, you don't get help from an enemy." Naruto yelled, sounding surprisingly witty.
"Actually, since he has the same scroll as us, that technically makes him our ally..."
Never mind, Sasuke always knows how to make Naruto seem like an idiot. The boy smiled.
"My name's Ryota, so are you going to help?"
"Wait," I spoke, he turned his gaze unto me, and strangely raised his eyebrows, as if in interest...
..But he didn't seem as interested as that when Sasuke-ku-I mean Sasuke-or Naruto spoke...
"You're supposed to work with your teammates, what happened to yours?"I demanded, his mood darkened, though he never took his eyes off of me.
..Creepy...
"They...were killed. I was able to heal myself, but when I tried to heal them, it was too late..." My eyes widened as I lifted a hand to my mouth.
"I'm sorry..." I said, his mood brightened up immediately, "Oh, don't worry about it, Miss..." he trailed off questionably.
"Sakura." I answered.
He smiled, "Please, I just need help getting to the tower, and then I'll leave you." Sasuke glared at him, as Naruto simply looked clueless. I sighed slightly, turning my chin up slightly to look at the boy, Ryota, better.
"Okay, but no funny business. Don't underestimate us, we will kill you."I said quietly, the boy smiled widely.
"Of course!" he agreed, "Thank you so much!" Sasuke turned to me, glaring hard, as he advanced on me. I was still in a sitting position, though that changed as he yanked me up into a standing position. My face was barely an inch away from his.
"What do you think you're doing? We can't just help him, what if he's an enemy?" He hissed.
"Well then keep your guard up; keep an eye on him, because what if he's not? What if he's an ally? We can't just leave him behind." I argued, locking my gaze with his. He glared for a while before letting go of my arm (which he still had a hold on from pulling me up) and stalked off to find food.
I smirked in victory.
--
We had eaten, with Ryota, though he didn't talk much, probably sensing he annoyed Sasuke. It was strange, though, he sat very uncomfortably close to me throughout the meal.
But whatever…
We were set off toward the tower. It was completely silent, we were all practically ignoring each other. Sasuke was glaring ahead of him at nothing, Naruto was absent mindedly kicking a stray rock, I was...well you know, thinking, the thing I do too much. Ryota was...
..Well, Ryota was staring at me, Smirking at random times. He was slightly behind me, but I could still see him in the corner of my eye..
He was creepy.
And I mean creepy, creepy.
"Sakura-Chan..." a voice called, I half expected it to be Naruto but no, it was Ryota. "Are your friends always this quiet?"
My 'friends' were a little ways ahead of us, so they probably couldn't hear us. He was talking pretty quietly, as well. "Well," I said, "Not usually, I mean, Sasuke is, but Naruto usually doesn't know when to shut up. Then usually Sasuke tells him to shut up, then Naruto gets angry, and they get into a fight...So no, actually, they're usually pretty annoying."
He smiled lightly, looking at me. "Can they hear us from here; they don't seem to be responding..."
"I doubt they can hear, why?" I asked, turning toward him slightly.
"Just curious..." he said quietly, looking me in the eye, "You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen..." he stated. I blushed profusely and looked away quickly. He chuckled lightly, "You look cute when you're flustered," he said, looking forward again.
"Th-thank you..." I mumbled. I felt a light sensation on the side of my head, I looked back to see Ryota fingering my hair,
"Is your hair natural?" he asked, studying the strand of hair carefully.
"Well, yeah it..." I began, but was interrupted.
"Would you two hurry up?" a voice seethed. It was Sasuke, but seemed very irate for the usual calm Sasuke.
Again, silence fell upon us; Ryota and I had caught up to Sasuke and Naruto, and were now quiet. We walked like that for a good half hour, before Ryota finally decided to speak.
"I'm sorry if I'm causing a disturbance to any of you. Sakura-Chan and I were speaking and she told me you..."
"It's astounding how quickly you two bonded..." Sasuke hissed, ignoring Ryota who was still talking.
"You mean me and Ryota? Yeah, well, we didn't really much..." I mumbled in response. Ryota and Naruto were now engaged in a conversation, more like an argument, but whatever.
"It seemed like it, or at least he seemed to warm up to you..." he growled, glaring at Ryota. I rolled my eyes, frowning.
"Whatever, Sasuke-k--" I caught my mistake, quickly covering it up; "...Could you be any more paranoid?"
"Yes," Sasuke deadpanned, "I could of killed him by now out of 'paranoia'…In fact, that doesn't seem like too bad of an idea…" he mumbled.
"No." I growled in response. He only ignored me, keeping his glare fixed on Ryota. I sighed…
Today would be a long day…
I hope you liked it! I know it's not very long for such a long wait. Sorry!