Konbanwa!
How are you all doing? I hope you've had much fun at Christmas and I wish you all a 'happy 2013!' (I know it's a little late, but a wish is a wish right? ;P)
Thank you so much to:
Aen Silver Fire
LadyAizenUchiha
Sakura 8D
hirokiri9
Midnight Angel Sakura
LostForever06
Seriously guys thank you, I know last chapter was unforgivably late, but you were still there and I truly appreciate that ^_^
This chapter… hmm… not much action here, but it is necessary. I hope you still like it, though… Oh, and before I forget, I literally suck at Geography (Naruto geography, normal geography, you name it… T.T) So, I formally apologize in case something seems off…
Chapter 14: Mission
Everything was dark, she felt like she was floating. Her body wouldn't respond to her in any way, her mind was surrounded by a hazy fog. No sound could be heard, even her own breathing was something forgotten. Sinking painlessly, regrettably in a sea of nothingness.
A strong smell invaded her whole essence, making her darkness shift and her mind spin. Rays of blinding light penetrated her darkened vision and the pitch-black dome she'd lost herself in shattered in tiny, sharp shards.
The smell made her sick, she hated it. She tried to wriggle around, to move, but she couldn't summon any of her strength. A voice echoed in her mind, a familiar voice… Was that her name? Suddenly she became painfully aware of every part of her body. Her head throbbed, sending waves of discomfort throughout every inch of her body. Her throat felt dry, burning with the need of alleviation. Her stomach gave one painful flip as someone shook her gently.
"Are you okay?" Someone asked with worry evident in his voice. She growled, letting everything she was currently feeling be heard through her voice. She tried to open her eyes and flinched at the blur that greeted her.
Her stomach twisted in knots and her first instinct was to make a dash for the bathroom, but just as she swung her legs and tried to stand, strong arms found their way to her shoulders and pushed her back down. She tried to free herself, but she soon discovered that it was futile.
"Calm down." She did as asked and took in deep breaths, frowning each time she had to swallow back a bile. Slowly, she was able to calm down, the hands holding her down, linking her to reality lifted and she tried once again to face the world.
She lifted herself to the level of her elbows and peeked around. She was lying on her couch with a blanket covering her. She tested her legs and found it okay to stand, unfortunately for her, her balance was still way off and consequently she found herself falling.
She watched as the floor rushed up to meet her, but before she got the chance to greet it appropriately strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her up against what felt like a man's chest. She swallowed before looking over her shoulder.
"S-Sasuke-kun?" Indeed there he stood, leaning slightly over her in a protective way. She gulped, only now did she realize his body heat sipping through her body, his scent nagging at her nose. He held her tightly, allowing her no escape. His dark eyes were hidden under strands of equally dark hair, he licked his lips and then, as if being violently awoken from a captivating dream, he jerked away from her.
The signs of his close presence faded and she stared at his retreating back, failing to realize the fact that he held her for a little longer than needed.
"You coming?" He said with a hint of anger in his voice. She arched a questioning eyebrow before screeching. The mission! She mumbled a quick apology before rushing to her room to grab what she branded necessary.
When she came out she was surprised to see the last Uchiha still waiting for her, leaning against the wall in his usual pose. He didn't acknowledge her presence, he just walked towards the exit and she followed suit in silence.
They reached the gates in what felt like a decade, during their walk she kept stealing glances at him, but not once did she catch him staring back, she knew though, he was more than aware of her eyes on him. She was surprised at the sight that greeted her, a hyperactive Naruto blabbing animatedly to a smiling Jugo.
"Sakura-channnnn! Teme!" The blond greeted while waving vigorously. The orange haired male turned to their direction and offered a kind smile.
" Sasuke, Sakura-san." He greeted. The male next to her grunted, but she chose to reply with a bright grin accompanied by a 'good morning'.
"So, will you be coming too, Jugo?" She received a nod in return. That would be her first mission with the silent giant, she mused. Jugo was the only one of Sasuke's former teammates that chose to follow him to Konoha and the pinkette immediately took a liking to his sweet and caring personality.
At first the orange haired male would always hang around the moody Uchiha, but after the first few months of his probation he became more daring. The cheery and homey atmosphere along with the help of the Hokage did good on his sudden personality-change issues. She could still feel his uneasiness when around unknown people, though.
They all made themselves comfortable, leaning against the gates as they waited for the last part of the team to arrive. Surprisingly, or maybe not, considering how late the pinkette herself arrived, the elite Jonin showed up with a laud poof minutes later.
"Yo!" Even after all those years his entry remained unchanged. So did her and Naruto's daily routine.
"LIAR!" They screamed, before the copy-nin had a chance to blurt one of his usual unorthodox excuses. He scratched the back of his head, messing his already rebellious hair. He would never admit it to those students of his, but their little ritual meant the world to him. Especially after the death of his dearest and last living ex-teammate.
After exchanging a few words they took off, their forms disappearing, blending in with the vast greenery.
The experienced Jonin lead the way, followed closely by Sasuke and Jugo. Sakura had fallen back along with Naruto so she could escape a certain someone's presence. She smirked and wiggled her eyebrows at the blond.
"So how did your date go?" The loudmouthed ninja choked on the same air he breathed and looked at his chuckling teammate with an astonished look.
"W-What date?" The pinkette couldn't believe her eyes. Not only did the lousy male stutter, but he blushed a nice shade of vermillion as well. Naruto's peculiar behavior attracted the attention of all the other males, raised eyebrow, enigmatic smirks and questioning eyes zeroed on the poor blond, demanding details.
"A-Ano…" It was rare indeed, to witness the nine tails' vessel be left with no words. In the end he started complaining about how that was nothing like a date, but more like two friends enjoying the divine taste of ramen.
The pinkette laughed a little before deciding to give the clueless male a break, she would have another chance to question anyway. Her foot slipped lightly and her heart froze when she lost her balance.
"Are you okay Sakura-san?" Jugo, who happened to be the one closest to her at that time caught her and balanced her on the tree branch.
"I'm fine, Jugo-san, I was just careless." She said, not being completely honest. Electricity crawled up her spine as she felt a dark gaze scan her whole body. She gulped but urged the team to keep moving.
"So what's our mission?" She asked. Kakashi pulled out the scroll he'd received the other day from Shizune and summarized its contents.
"It's a relatively easy mission near the borders with Oto no Kuni. Basically you Sakura are to organize the local hospital and the rest of us will help with the construction and with some thugs that have been invading the village for quite some time." Everyone was paying their full attention to the team captain, noting every little detail even though it was pretty simple.
"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to Oto?" It was Jugo that asked the question. Oto was one big part of his and Sasuke's life and with their probation and all the other things going on in their lives they weren't exactly informed about international relationships.
"Oto is in a tricky situation. It was already bad when Sasuke killed Orochimaru, but after the war things went downhill. Nowadays, Oto is a poor, unlawful country and the refuge of missing nins. The Kage's are still meeting over what they should do about it. The people we are helping are mostly stock-breeders and farmers that used to live in Oto, due to the current state of the country, though they asked for permission to relocate to Hi no Kuni." Everyone, or at least almost everyone nodded at the additional information, after the victory of the Shinobi Forces things like that happened more often than not.
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The team reached the village by the time the sun touched the summit of the green painted mountains. Even with the map the small mass of houses was hard to locate, the reason being the vast forest that encircled the village in a protective manner. A single building seemed to overshadow the rest, it was four stories high and freshly painted white. Lower, mostly traditional styled wooden buildings were scattered around, seemingly in an irregular pattern.
Tree trunks and big rocks littered the streets, or at least what would later be the streets. With their guards up they walked forward in search of someone to ask for directions. The only sound that could be heard was that of their own feet hitting the rough ground.
"This place is creepy." The blond spoke up, winching at the loudness of his voice contrasting with the eerie silence that had fallen over the village like a veil. The soft, almost romantic shadows of the dawn had evolved into hungry, pitch black abysses. A small creak had them all on edge, they followed the sound to a barely opened window, a single brown eye peeked from inside at the unnamed foreigners.
"OI! Can we talk to you?" The loudmouthed Konoha shinobi exclaimed none too silently. There was no reaction from the other person and Naruto prepared to give it another try, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
"We are from Konoha." Said Kakashi pointing to his forehead where the shiny forehead protector with the infamous symbol of the leaf shinobi proudly rested. The brown eye turned wide, little sparks appearing in the chocolate colored irises.
The window was shut closed and a few moments later the door of the house flew open revealing a short girl, around ten, with brown hair held in a bun on top of her head and warm brown orbs. She grinned at them while waving vigorously.
"Come in!" Her voice echoed with excitement dripping of each word. Sharing a look they decided to enter the house. Just as the silver haired Jonin stepped into the house a woman rushed down the stairs and grabbed the young girl.
"Hikari! I told you not to open to anyone!" The old woman turned fearful eyes to the Konoha shinobi and opened her mouth to speak, but she found herself unable to do so. Seeing her hesitation Kakashi decided pipe in. He held one hand up and the other buried itself into the mob of silver hair.
"Sorry to disturb you at such an hour. We are the team send from Konoha to help the village." He watched as the woman left a heavy sigh of relief that seemed to wash away the tension of her muscles. "I am the team leader, Hatake Kakashi. Could you help us find the local inn? According to the map it's somewhere around here." The woman stood straight, releasing the girl dubbed as 'Hikari' from her tight grip.
"There is no inn in this village, at least not yet, but this is where you'll stay. I am Amano Yori, yoroshiku onegai shimasu." She bowed deeply and Kakashi checked the scroll to confirm the name. He nodded to the ninjas patiently waiting outside and they all walked in.
"Uzumaki Naruto, next Hokage!" The blond gave them a grin worthy of the sun itself.
"Haruno Sakura, thank you for having us." The pinkette bowed politely and motioned for the next guy to come in.
"J-Jugo…" The gentle giant bowed awkwardly and came to stand next to Naruto.
"Hn." A small nod was all he was willing to give. "Uchiha Sasuke." He grunted out after receiving some glares courtesy of his teammates. He didn't miss how her eyes widened for a moment, nor the way her posture turned defensive, but he let it slide, it was nothing he wasn't used to.
His name, especially to those who lived in Oto, was equal to danger and fear. It was the same when he first stepped foot in Konoha, everyone looked at him as if he would just draw his sword and slaughter them all cold-blood. It took time, patience and a loudmouthed idiot of a blond friend for some people to stop trembling at the sight of him.
Lady Hokage and the rest of his team, even the newest additions to it, were a big help too, they are those to whom he owns his sanity, those who pulled him back to his feet when even he himself didn't want to get up.
"Hikari, take them to their rooms." She ordered and the girl grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her along, while the other woman shut and double-locked the door.
"We have only three rooms available, I hope you don't mind..." She whispered, but the pinkette's keen ears picked it up.
"No, we don't mind at all." She said as they climbed up the stairs. They found themselves at the middle of a narrow corridor with five wooden doors decorating its length.
"Those are the rooms, the first one on the left is my room and the one at the end is the bathroom."
"So then, Sakura, you'll take one room and the rest of us will share." The Jonin said.
"Then, Sakura-san, you should take the one next to mine, it's for only one person anyway." She pointed to the corresponding door.
"Well, then, how about I share with Naruto and Sasuke with Jugo?" No one objected.
"I'll prepare the futons then." The girl said and disappeared somewhere downstairs. The Konoha shinobi exchanged some looks and they silently agreed to keep their guard up. They all had questions, but that would have to wait until morning.
Sakura entered her assigned room and grinned. The futon was already laid neatly in the middle of the room and a quite impressive collection of stuffed animals was in display all around it. No wonder she was to sleep in here, it was difficult to imagine any of the boys buried under those pink covers.
She set her things near her head and slipped most of her weapons off her body. She didn't remove the senbons hidden under her skirt though. She pulled out her nigh clothes and changed into them.
"Do you like it?" She turned around to face Hikari who watched her from behind the half opened door.
"Yes." The girl grinned, obviously pleased.
"The others have already settled, would you like anything else?" She prepared to shake her head, but after a second's thought she nodded.
"There are some things I want to ask you." The brunette seemed taken aback for a moment, but she quickly pulled herself together and nodded. She entered and made herself comfortable on the tatami.
"What are you all afraid of so much?" She asked and the preteen lowered her eyes.
"The attacks from Oto have become more frequent and more violent. They have also started abducting people lately… So when night comes everyone locks themselves into their homes and just wait until morning." The pink haired medic nodded, if things were that bad, it was no wonder Lady Hokage appointed five shinobi to take care of it.
"W-Will you help us?" A timid voice asked and Sakura couldn't help but smile.
"Of course!" She said and she meant every word of it.
"W-Will you also find my s-sister?" Sakura blinked, confused.
"Your sister?"
"Nee-chan disappeared four days ago, w-we couldn't find her…" Her brown orbs were obscured by tears and Sakura felt her heart clench. If the poor girl was taken, then after four whole days there wasn't much to hope for. Nevertheless, she couldn't just leave the poor girl like that. She ruffled her hair lightly.
"We'll try our best." That accompanied with her sweet smile apparently were enough for the girl in front of her.
"Arigatou!" She said and stood up. "Goodnight, Sakura-nee!" Sakura waved back and lay down just as the door shut with an almost inaudible thump. She brought her hand up to rub her temples, a habit she picked up from her Shisou. A little light sneaked into the dark room from the blind, it landed softly on her face, illuminating the porcelain skin and striking features.
She reached to her discarded weapon's holder, grabbed a kunai and pulled it under her pillow. Sleep overcame her soon after.
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Next morning came too soon to her liking, she rubbed her eyes, trying to rid herself of the remnants of sleep. Like a feline she stretched her arms and legs after kicking the blankets off of her body. Satisfied she stood up and stretched a little more, it was a bad habit of hers. Some pretty loud cracks later and she finally felt ready for the possibly tiring day that lay on ahead.
Her hands slowly fell to the hem of her baggy shirt and she pulled it over her head, she shivered as she was left only with a thin-strap T-shirt that barely reached her belly button. She hooked her fingers on the dark fabric, forcing it up as well.
Someone coughed from behind her and to her outmost terror she jerked around to meet the amused eyes of no other than Uchiha Sasuke, quickly she dragged her T-shirt back over her body.
He was leaning against the wall, as if he had no care in the world, one eyebrow raised high enough to hide under the black silk of his hair and signature smirk in place, albeit seeming a little wider.
Her arm reflexively flew over her body and she leaned forward, desperately fighting to hide as much of exposed skin as possible.
"Sasuke-kun!" She shrieked in horror, but he seemed unfazed. She grabbed the nearest piece of clothing she could find, turned around and hurriedly put it on. When she faced him again she was glaring at him with blazing eyes, even though the vermillion blush taking over her whole face prevented her from getting the desired emotion across.
"How long have you been standing there?" She was embarrassed, but what bothered him was the fact that he was enjoying it, the feelings shining behind the emerald of her eyes and the blush dedicated to him.
He wasn't sure why she was reacting like that; it wasn't like he saw something he wasn't supposed to have seen. Besides, the two of them had been much closer than that and she seemed perfectly fine with it.
That was the reason he had been avoiding her as much as humanly possible, after all, their heated session, for the lack of a better word, elicited something inside him that he didn't know how to tame, hell, he didn't even know how to name it, the only thing he now knows for sure is that it's overpowering him, his presence there being enough proof.
Even though he decided to cut their interaction down to the absolute minimum, his body, his everything leads him back to her. It's frustrating, really, it was is as if no matter the path he chose to follow she would always stand there with her hypnotizing eyes and her warm smile, her caring touch…
She raised her eyebrow and he realized he had been staring at her intensely. He wanted to confront her, but the words appeared to always get caught in his throat, something he thought was impossible to happen to him.
He walked and came to tower over her, like a predator cornering the innocent prey. He wasn't a man of words, so he would let his actions carry on the unspoken questions and the confusion burning him on the inside.
She kept staring up at him, unable to utter a word, unable to move. He leaned down, carefully watching her reaction and noting every single detail. His lips were inches away from her own plum ones, when his hand came to rest on the column of her neck.
Her pulse was running out of control under his cold touch and the red on her cheeks didn't retreat. That alien feeling that had been haunting him roared to life once again, it clawed on the inside of his chest, wanting, demanding.
She took one step away from him and raised a hand to calm her frantically beating heart.
'COWARD!' A voice echoed painfully from the depths of her mind and she couldn't help but agree. Why? After all those years of waiting, of hurting, of hoping! Why did she back down? She was stunned to silence, she feared his reaction, she was scared out of her mind that she had forever lost her chance with him. She chuckled dryly inside, wasn't she the one who told herself she only sought his friendship?
Meanwhile the proud Uchiha was at a loss himself, surprisingly not at the same reason the pink haired girl in front of him, but at his own actions. Maybe he should have tried talking to her, instead of getting himself at this mess.
"Why do you react like that?" She gave him a defeated look.
"I'm s-sorry… I-I-" She took a deep breath. "I chickened out, okay? It was too sudden…" She said not able to look at him at the eye. He raised a question eyebrow.
"If I recall correctly, you were fine with it the other day." His voice came out annoyed and she snapped up to meet his eyes.
"Eh?" She smacked herself inwardly, but that was the best comeback she could come up with at the given moment.
"Hn. What exactly happened back then?" He mumbled at this point beyond caring about what she would think of him. Why did he care in the first place?
"B-Back when?" Was she for real? He glared at her, only to find no trace of lies in her sparkling eyes. He sighed, that conversation was seriously weighting down on him. Words… troublesome masses of inky characters…
"Three days ago, when you barged into my apartment and that happened." There! He said it, now since he was kind enough to put it into words, she better answer his damn question.
Her mouth hung open… 'that' obviously referred to kissing… Now… Three days ago? What happened three days ago? She had that weird vision… and then she rushed to his apartment… and found her on top of him, practically kissing him unconscious…
The pieces itched to be placed together and she knew the answer was millimeters out of her grasp.
"We… nothing happened… I mean, i-it wasn't me who you-" She started, the words coming out in messed up sentences.
"OI! Teme, what is taking you that damn long? Wake up Sakura-chan and come on! " A voice called from downstairs and broke the heavy atmosphere in countless, unforgiving pieces.
"We'll talk about it later." He commanded and she nodded numbly, her mind was lost in the million scenarios circling around it. He left and she just stood there, eyes locked with the absolute nothingness so intently one would think she expected it to give her all the answers she needed.
Shaking her head she stored the thoughts in her subconscious. She had work to do, she would deal with Sasuke later, his exit promised of a very tiring and awkward situation and she groaned. What was with her and getting caught in misunderstandings with the male Uchiha?
She quickly got dressed and descended the stairs to greet her team. Green locked with coal and she forced down a shudder.
...::::::::(!)::::::::...
Man, did her head hurt! She hadn't even reached the hospital yet and she felt exhausted beyond belief! She had to hold it together though, she was the Hokage's apprentice and one of Konoha's best medics, failure, even at the slightest detail, was not an option.
She raised her face to the building in front of her, the same building that caught her eye when they first reached the village. She passed through the wide open gates and came face to face with what she guessed was the whole staff, all lined up in front of her.
She bowed slightly and introduced herself, as her manners instructed her to. A woman shyly stepped forward and followed Sakura's example.
"I'm Kazuki Makako, head of this hospital. Thank you for coming." She stood up and smiled in a gentle way.
"All of them are either staff, or volunteers helping out. They wanted to come and greet you as a way of showing their gratitude, Haruno-sama." Sakura was taken aback, but in a good way, maybe, just maybe today wouldn't be that bad after all…
"How about we show you around?" The woman offered and Sakura nodded happily.
"Of course! Thank you." The staff all bowed and turned back to their corresponding work.
"Haruno-sama, most of us, excluding maybe a handful of people and myself are not experienced medics-"
"Don't worry, I'm aware of your situation. My first priority would be to organize a system that would enable the hospital work flawlessly, after that, meaning probably tomorrow I will start training the medics. Of course it is impossible to teach them everything over the course of one week, but Hokage-same will send another team of capable medics to take over from where I left off. My job is to pave the way for them to the best of my abilities." She said with a voice never wavering, her objective was clear, her goal was set and she was going to achieve it no matter what!
That's it for this chapter, sorry, Sasuke probably came out a little awkward, he and his stuck up personality gave me a killer headache… -.-'
Next chapter is going to be way better…
Excluding A/N this one is around 4.251 words, I'm still having trouble to find the ideal length… If you have any suggestions, they would be really appreciated.
I think that's all… Well, until next time!