Review:
Sakura started going after him, adding more speed, laughing herself. This was just like old times, and she sure did enjoy having a bit of her old life make it's appearance now that she had the mark. She watched the back of his head, as he was laughing. He had grown, now taller than her. But, it was more than just his size, it was his being. He matured believe it or not. Of course he was still a knuckle headed ninja, but he had grown a bit. He made her so happy. He was her best friend after all.
An hour later
Feeling herself laugh at the sight of Naruto nearly tripping himself up, Sakura shook her head in his direction. "I thought you were supposed to become the next Hokage Naruto. And a Hokage has to be pretty focused to do their job. You lack in focus, that's why you keep tripping yourself up!" She taunted her blonde hair teammate, without looking back at him.
Feeling a new burst of energy in his veins at her words, Naruto quickly picked himself up off the forest floor, and jumped back into the trees, catching up to Sakura again. They had been at this for an hour. Not stopping for a break. "I'll become Hokage one day Sakura! Believe it!"
Oh, yes. I certainly do believe you Naruto. Sakura thought to herself, pushing herself to move onto the next branch a bit harder to try to get ahead, but it didn't work because Naruto used the same tactic on the next branch, leading to them being side by side again. This whole time they had been racing, Sakura felt light and carefree. Like she did before the mark. The same feeling she had when she jumped off the waterfall. Naruto had yet again made her feel better. Like all those times she had came to his house in the middle of the night after having a stupid nightmare that didn't make any sense, but he still sat there at his kitchen table listening to her anyways. All those times after practice they would go eat ramen then go watch the stars on top of the Hokage monument to wind down after a long day of practice. He did a lot for her. Half the time he didn't even know it.
Saku Inner: Sakura, what are you doing?
Sakura: I'm racing Naruto. Why? Are you all of a sudden going to have me pushed back into a memory or something? You haven't done that in a few days, and frankly I'm questioning if you're even trying to help me.
Saku Inner: Are you actually mad that I'm not randomly trying to make you black out to go watch a memory? I can't believe this is actually happening, you're actually trying to cooperate, the end of the world must be near…
Sakura: Oh, would you shut up? Besides, I couldn't give two shits about you and your random acts that intentionally cause me some kind of harm in the end.
Saku Inner: Anyway, I-
Sakura stopped listening to her inner, as she realized she was falling behind Naruto a bit. Pushing chakra into her feet, she quickly caught up to him again, before releasing the chakra in her feet. Geez, inner stop distracting me. If you don't have anything important to say then leave me alone.
Saku Inner: I actually am trying to help you out. I was asking you what you are you doing. You're wasting time in a stupid race with Naruto, you're not even focused on getting back to the Leaf. You're distracted, and frankly I believe you should have just let Naruto go with everyone else, he's distracting.
Gritting her teeth, Sakura shook her head several times. Really wanting to punch her inner, although even she knew that wasn't even the slightest bit possible. You were the one who told me to have him stay! And Naruto's not distracting me, he's helping me! She bit back in response to her inner. It sounded defensive and it showed her anger.
Saku Inner: Sakura it's the 24th, you have six days until your birthday. Sure you can get to the Leaf in that amount of time, but you have too much stuff to do. You have to open the box, then there is the matter of your parents funeral, and-
Sakura: It's really unnecessary for you to bring up my responsibilities, because that doesn't help me at all. I know exactly how much I have to do when I get back to the Leaf. Besides, me enjoying myself for a change shouldn't be a bad thing, yet you still are mad at me.
Feeling herself reach a point of anger that it could be noticeable by Naruto, she blocked her inner, and then took a few breaths. She knew that her inner was just trying to look out for her, but honestly she wanted to have a little fun, she had to be serious these past couple weeks, and who knows what will happen after her birthday. She wanted to have fun, and Naruto always helped her feel better. This is healthy.
"Ha! We're about five minutes away from our team, I can feel their chakra, they just stopped to take a break." Naruto's voice interrupted Sakura's thoughts. "I'm going to beat you there!"
I guess we managed to catch up because of how fast we were running, well jumping from tree to tree I should say. Sakura thought to herself, before forgetting about her inner. Focusing back on her race with Naruto. "Yeah right! You're not going to win Naruto, I've got this in the bag!" She yelled back. Feeling a happiness explode inside of her with the excitement. She started pushing more energy towards her feet, barely getting ahead.
"Not this time Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed when he noticed her sudden burst of energy. "I knew you would save your real energy for the end, but I did too!" He called over to her, letting more energy go towards his own feet. Causing him to speed up several feet past Sakura.
Sakura smirked, as she started running right behind him. What he doesn't know wont hurt him. She thought as they neared where the teams chakra was. She even began to hear thud's of things being put on the ground and others voices. She was shaken from her mind when Naruto yelled.
"I'm going to win this time Sakura!"
Sakura only grinned, and took that as her queue. It's time! "I don't think so!" She yelled just as loud as he did, which she was sure their team could hear by now considering they were so close. She released her energy she had been saving, and sped up behind Naruto. Then as soon as they around forty feet from their team, Sakura suddenly ducked in front of Naruto, causing him to stumble.
"Hey!" Naruto yelled, stumbling, but managed to barely catch himself and keep following.
Laughing now, Sakura suddenly broke out of the trees. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the rest of their team. Her laughter grew when she felt Naruto speeding towards her from behind. Finally close enough, Sakura jumped forward the same time Naruto did. But, the sound of her feet hit the ground in the middle of the clearing her team had stopped. Then it was followed with Naruto's. "I win!" Sakura exclaimed, in-between deep breaths.
Naruto only frowned and yelled. "No way!" He yelled, before taking a breath. "I did!"
"No I did!" Sakura yelled back at him, her competitive side showing clearly.
The two then started arguing, their voices rising at the second. The rest of their team watched them completely confused. Shikamaru looked to his side at Neji. "What exactly is going on?"
Neji, who was still watching Sakura and Naruto argue only shook his head. "I'm not really sure."
Ino propped her hands on her hips and questioned Sakura and Naruto. "What are you two do-"
"Shut up!" Naruto and Sakura both yelled interrupting Ino, not looking away from each other, continuing to argue.
Finally Sakura couldn't take it anymore. So with a yell she jumped forward, and tackled Naruto to the ground. Although immediately Naruto retaliated and had started trying to pin her down on the ground. And then the two really started wrestling. Trying to get the other pinned down.
After a minute of them wrestling Hinata looked around at the other team members. "Shouldn't we try stopping them?"
"Only if it gets really bad. I'm kind of enjoying this," Tenten said, not looking away from the two wrestling. A grin on her face.
Another minute went by before Sakura ended up pinning Naruto down on the ground with her hands against his chest, although he had a hold of both of her arms to keep her from moving. She was sitting directly on his abdomen. The two were catching their breath, neither broke eye contact. Finally they turned their heads to the team and yelled. "Who got here first?!"
There was a really awkward moment of silence from the team. They were still completely confused on what exactly Naruto and Sakura were doing there already. And then there was the thought of why exactly were Naruto and Sakura arguing as well. "Technically Sakura did," Hinata answered when no one else did. She saw the look on Naruto's face, and she tried to make it seem better. "But, you were really close, just a few seconds difference."
Sakura only laughed at Hinata's response. "I knew it! There's no way you could have won! Especially with me having that extra bit of energy at the end."
Naruto let Sakura's arms go, his mouth hanging open in question. "Wait a minute. How is that possible? You said before we got here that you already released extra energy."
Moving to get off Naruto, Sakura sat down on the ground beside him. "I did, but I didn't use up all of it. You just assumed that, and that's why you lost."
Saku Inner: You sound so cocky.
Sakura: Shut up Inner! I just told him why he lost. I'm helping him!
Sakura sighed when her inner didn't respond. I feel a little bad for him, but honestly even if I try going easy on him I'm too competitive that I end up actually trying in the end. She stuck out her hand in his direction, their usual signal of peace at any disagreement, competition, or fight they had. "Naruto?"
Grumbling under his breath, Naruto only took her hand. "Fine."
Laughing as she shook his hand, Sakura couldn't help herself to add on. "I can't believe you fell like that back there. You just all of a sudden dropped down out of no where. Did you trip on something?"
"Yeah, air," Naruto replied, a grin finally appeared on his face. "I would have totally won if that wouldn't have happened."
Before Sakura could say anything else, Hinata interrupted. "Um, I'm sorry to interrupt this. But, just curious as to why you two are here right now?"
Sakura grinned at Hinata's words. "Are you not happy that we are here? I could still be slowly going insane if I stayed back. I mea-"
"She means why are you two here so early," Sasuke interrupted, rolling his eyes at Sakura's joking self.
Sending a slight glare towards Sasuke, Sakura then looked away. "I know that, thank you very much!" Her tone surprisingly negative before switching back to a more positive one when she talked to Hinata. "Anyway, Naruto let me recover for about an hour, then we raced all the way from where we were to here in around an hour."
"How did you two manage to do that?" Shikamaru asked, knowing that they would have literally had to run all the way from where they had been to here without taking a single break or slowing down at all. "We started traveling an hour before you two did and you managed to catch up to us at the end of the second hour."
Sakura and Naruto both shared a look before laughing. It took a while for them to stop and even then Sakura couldn't stop from letting little laughs out every once in a while. So Naruto answered. "We just get really competitive when we race each other. We didn't really notice how fast we were going."
After finally getting her laughing under complete control, Sakura stood up. "I've got something to say," she started as she approached the team. She could hear Naruto stand up then as he walked beside her. Once by the team they stopped. "I apologize for what happened. I should have had better control then I could have prevented all of that from happening."
"You can't blame yourself Sakura," Naruto told her before anyone else could say anything. His eyes went from the team to Sakura. "You didn't have control and that would have happened no matter what."
Still slightly confused on what exactly happened, Hinata just made a note to ask Sakura later. "Besides, we understand that you're going through a lot. And the only thing that matters is that you're okay now."
"Right," Ino agreed, nodding her head along with the rest of the team.
Feeling herself smile, Sakura looked around at her team. "Thanks," she said, as she looked behind her in the direction of the Land of Fire. "How much farther until we're home?"
"We're not at the border yet," Neji started, his byakugan activated. "We're about an hour from the border, then another couple hours from Konoha. So it would be around three hours."
Sakura turned around to face towards the direction of the Land of Fire. She felt something different in that direction. She took a few steps forward, the weird feeling grew stronger.
"Can we just go home now?" Ino asked, her voice showed her exhaustion. "I'm tired and I would love to shower in my own house."
"Do you two need a break?" Shikamaru asked Naruto and Sakura. Although Sakura had walked away from them so she probably wasn't listening.
Naruto only shrugged, looking to Sakura. "Hey Sak-" He stopped, noticing Sakura's rather stiff figure as she walked closer to the edge of the clearing closest to the Land of Fire. Just by looking at her he began to feel an odd feeling. "Hey Sakura?"
Hinata noticed the pink haired girl's stiff figure as well, she frowned. I know that she seems better, but something is bothering her. I hope it's not her mark again. She thought as she starting walking towards Sakura. "Are you okay?"
Sakura hardly recognized that they had spoke to her, as she felt her insides freeze. In the direction they were headed she felt a really dark presence. Once that she couldn't explain, but the closer she got to the direction of the Land of Fire and Land of Rivers border it felt darker. Cold even. Swallowing the growing lump in her throat, she clenched her fists. "We can't go this way."
"What?!" Ino and Tenten half-yelled from behind her.
"What do you mean we can't go that way? That's in the direction of home. You know, the place you want to be in right now," Ino said, disbelief clear in her voice.
Tenten nodded in agreement with Ino. "We can't exactly not go home Sakura, Tsunade does expect us back sometime."
"I know that okay!" Sakura exclaimed back at them, taking a deep breath to keep from raising her voice again. "I said we can't go this way, not that we can't go home," she corrected. She turned towards Hinata who was behind her, speaking in a voice that only Hinata could hear. "I don't know if it's my weird senses or something, but I sense something dark in that direction. I don't know how to explain it, but whatever it is it isn't good."
Hinata looked around searching with just her senses, but couldn't sense anything dark. "Byakugan!" She called out before activating her byakugan. Looking around carefully. "I don't see or sense anything," she said in the same low tone Sakura used.
Sakura just shook her head at Hinata's words. "Just trust me Hinata, we can't go that way. I know I just had a crazy breakdown an hour ago so my credibility might be compromised, but you have to trust me on this. I just have a really bad feeling about going that way."
Hinata de-activated her Byakugan, then looked into Sakura's eyes, and right away she believed her. She saw the worried look in Sakura's eyes, and it had been one Sakura held plenty of times over the past couple weeks. Usually Sakura would at least try to hide the emotion, but this time it was clear on her face. "I believe you."
"Thank you Hinata," Sakura said, smiling slightly. "Please try to get them to understand, they probably already think I'm going crazy."
Nodding her head, Hinata then spoke. "Stay here, and I'll go talk to them," she said, before she started walking back to the rest of the team, stopping near them. "She really doesn't think we should go that way. If anything it's making her anxious. And honestly I couldn't sense anything or see anything with my Byakugan."
"So if it's really nothing then why do we have to go a different way?" Ino asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Hinata said that Sakura doesn't think we should go that way, that would be the reasoning behind going a different way," Neji replied to Ino. "And we can't exactly say there isn't anything there because we don't have the strange senses that she has. She's been able to sense plenty of stuff we haven't these past few days of travel."
"I don't think it would hurt going a different way if it makes her feel better," Shikamaru said, crossing his arms. Looking in the direction of where Sakura was before looking back at the rest of the team. "Plus over all even if we said no, she's still in charge. She could order us to go, then we would have to no matter what."
It was quiet for a moment before Sasuke finally spoke. "What is the point in even considering saying no then? Either way we're going to have to go a different way to get into Konoha," he said, having not spoke much since they had to leave Sakura back with Naruto a couple hours ago. Even when Sakura and Naruto caught up with them he still had yet to talk often. He felt angry.
Hinata sighed, her eyes going to Sasuke. He's hurt. He doesn't like how Sakura's been depending on Naruto so much, and his attitude just proves he's mad. "Because she wanted me to come over and explain to you guys to get you to understand. She thinks you all think she's going crazy after everything that's happened today… and over the past couple weeks. She believes that you all won't take her opinion seriously anymore." Okay so she didn't say that last part, but honestly by the way she's acting I can tell that's how she feels.
Again with the silence, everyone was thinking about those words. They didn't think Sakura was crazy and they definitely respected her opinion. They knew she was having problems with her mark and it couldn't be helped. Finally Naruto just sighed. "Let's do it. If it makes her feel better I think it's a good idea."
Sasuke felt another strange feeling at Naruto's words. Something inside of him told him it was starting to feel like jealousy. Why am I jealous of Naruto? He has Hinata. "Let's go a different way."
Shikamaru and Neji shared a look both nodding. Hinata smiled, before looking over to Sakura. "Come over here Sakura."
Sakura looked over from where she was looking in the forest. Damn, I almost pinpointed where exactly this dark feeling is. Oh well. Eyeing her team, she walked over slowly. "Well?"
"We're going a different way," Neji told her.
Sighing Sakura gave a small smile. She was relieved to say the least. She really didn't like what she felt. "We can travel along the border between the Land of Rivers and Land of Fire. We can travel like that for an hour or two then try to cross over into the Land of Fire territory. We should still be able to make it to the Leaf tonight, but it would probably be later than anticipated."
"We were wondering if you and Naruto needed a break a minute ago," Shikamaru told her. "So do you?"
Naruto looked to Sakura. "I'm okay if we need to leave now, but I wouldn't mind a minute to actually drink some water."
Sakura took that under consideration before answering herself. "I think it would be good to rest here for about ten minutes. I think we got here just when you guys did. You guys probably need a break too."
Once everyone was settled, Sakura disappeared into the trees to go to a river nearby. She needed to re-fill her water. However when she got near the river she froze as she felt sharp pains coming from her ribs. Leaning back against a tree, her free hand went to her ribs. Damn, this hurts almost as bad as it did when it first happened. I still haven't talked to Hinata about. I will after this. She thought, before pushing through the pain. As she kneeled down beside the river to re-fill her water she began feeling Sasuke's presence. At first soft, then much more obvious when he got closer. "Sasuke."
Sasuke stepped out of the shadows of the trees, his eyes going straight to Sakura. "What happened earlier? You were fine then all of a sudden you snapped."
Sakura finished re-filling her water and stood up. Her eyes going to Sasuke. "It was nothing Sasuke. It was just my mark acting up. Everything's fine."
"Clearly everything's not fine," Sasuke said, crossing his arms. "You looked scared Sakura. Whatever happened wasn't some little small problem, it made you scared for us to be around you."
"I told you Sasuke. It was nothing. I'm fine now. Why can't you just forget about it?" Sakura asked, her voice taking on the sound of irritation.
Which Sasuke picked up on right away. He only felt the same feeling of irritation he had a few minutes ago. "Sakura, you can trust Naruto with whatever is going on, but you can't just simply tell me what happened?" He asked, taking a couple steps towards her. "That's all I want you to do. Tell me what happened. Talk to me when things go wrong. I shouldn't be the last one to hear when something's wrong, I should be the first one to know!"
At the sound of his last few words, Sakura felt something inside of her snap. "Why are you acting like this Sasuke? I told you it was nothing and that's not good enough for you. Maybe I just don't want to talk about it. Did you think about that? Maybe I'm not ready to talk about it. You wouldn't know because you don't even bother asking me if I want to talk about it. You just tell me to tell you!"
"Well maybe I don't like the idea of not knowing what's going on with you! Maybe I don't like the idea of being the last one to know what's going on!" Sasuke yelled, beyond frustrated at this point. "Maybe I don't like the fact that you're telling Naruto about your problems and not me! Maybe I don't like the fact that you asked him to stay instead of me!"
Something inside of Sakura clicked, she finally understood why Sasuke was reacting like this. "Are you seriously jealous of me asking Naruto to stay?!" She exclaimed, completely outraged at this point. "This was something I knew Naruto could handle if I were to lose control! That's why I asked him to stay! Not because I prefer him better over the rest of the team!"
"Sakura you don't understand what I'm saying," Sasuke told her, clenching his fists. "I don't know how else to say to you that I want to be the one you go to with your problems. Not the last one to find out about them. At first it was you always going to Hinata, and now it's Naruto! Naruto shouldn't be the first one you think of when you have a problem! It should be me! You didn't ask me to stay! You didn't even let me come near you! Do you still not understand why I'm mad?!"
Taking a few steps closer to Sasuke, Sakura looked into his eyes. "You can't tell me I shouldn't go to Naruto with my problems, but you instead. Naruto has been through everything with me Sasuke! Ever since we became Team Seven! He's never hurt me, he never called me weak, he never left me!" She yelled, feeling her anger bubble up inside her on the edge of overflowing. "He's my best friend! I love you Sasuke, but being jealous of Naruto is not what you need to be doing right now!" She yelled at him before turning on her heel and speeding back to where the group was.
Saku Inner: What are you doing? I've never seen you get this mad at Sasuke before.
Sakura couldn't bring herself to respond to her inner. Once she actually got to where the team was, Sakura just angrily walked past them, and to her stuff. Which she started to angrily collect and get ready for travel. Flinching at pain from her ribs, she just ignored it.
"What's going on Sakura?" Hinata asked, not liking the look Sakura held on her face. It was pure anger.
Sasuke suddenly came from the same direction Sakura had as he approached her. He held the same look of anger on his own face. He stopped a few feet from Sakura, his fists still clenched. "What do you want me to do then Sakura?! You're not being fair to me by keeping secrets from me and not coming to me for help! Everything always has to be what you want it to be! So what do you want me to do?!"
Sakura only yanked her stuff off the ground, then looked him in the eye. "We're leaving," she said out loud, deliberately ignoring his question.
When Sakura tried moving, Sasuke just stepped in her way. "No. We're not going anywhere until you answer me."
Sakura closed the distance between them so she could looked directly in his eyes. "I'm tired of this Sasuke! I already have enough problems to deal with as it is! I tried explaining what I can to you, because I don't exactly understand half of it myself! I just may not be ready to talk about everything else! If you can't understand that, then at least I know who is really there for me!" She yelled at him, letting her inner anger out. She turned around without waiting for him to respond,. "We're leaving, get in whatever the hell formation you want!" She exclaimed, before jumping into the tree's and moving forward.
Sasuke stood there, not moving a muscle. His face didn't show a single emotion except shock. What did I just do?
An hour later
Sakura felt a little bit of anger get released when she punched a tree not too far from where she had been a second ago. As they traveled this past hour she had ignored Sasuke. If he tried coming near her she moved away. She would punch trees to let out anger and it would usually get Sasuke to move farther away from her for a few minutes before he would try again. The whole team had to stop twice when her anger had led to a little more destruction to the trees. Which had slowed them down a little.
When she punched the next tree she passed, she felt a sharp pain come from her ribs. It was painful enough to get her attention away from Sasuke. Unlike the last few times she felt the pain over the past couple days it didn't disappear completely this time.
Saku Inner: You really should get your ribs checked out. It's not good for you to be in pain because of something you can't fix.
Sakura: But, I don't want to waste anymore time. I can wait until we get to the village.
As she kicked off the branch of the next tree, the pain in her ribs increased enough for her to have to intake a sharp breath. Okay maybe I should stop for a minute, then maybe it'll get better. "We need to stop!" She called to her team, before jumping down to the ground. Unfortunately that only caused some more pain with the landing. She flinched, and brought a hand to her ribs.
As soon as her feet hit the ground, Hinata saw Sakura flinch in pain. She was immediately by Sakura's side, and brought a hand to her shoulder. Knowing that something was hurting her. "Where are you hurting?"
Sakura only sighed, she knew she couldn't hide it anymore. "My ribs," she replied softly, trying to keep everyone else from hearing. Although she noticed Neji heard her anyways and he looked at her questioning.
"What's going on?" Tenten asked, the rest of the team coming closer after her question. "Is she in pain?"
"She is fine," Sakura answered before Hinata could say anything, her eyes narrowing at Tenten. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here."
Hinata only squeezed Sakura's shoulder, giving her a warning look before looking to Tenten. "It's her ribs," she explained, then looked back at Sakura. "I thought you had already healed those. It's been four days since that happened."
"Wait, what happened to her ribs?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head.
Sasuke opened his mouth to respond to Naruto's question. His eyes showed anger.
Although before Sasuke could say anything, Shikamaru spoke. "It was from when she and Neji were fighting," he explained to Naruto quietly. His eyes going back to Sasuke. I'm glad I said something before Sasuke did. He looks like he's about to blow up shouting and it if looks could kill, Neji would be dead on the spot.
"Why have you waited so long to heal your ribs?" Ino questioned, propping her hands on her hips as she scowled at Sakura. "You know the risk in doing that. With all the traveling we did they could have grown back wrong."
Everything was silent after that, Sakura just crossed her arms and looked down at the ground. An unreadable expression on her face.
All the other girls then shared looks of worry at Sakura's reaction to Ino's words. Which didn't go unnoticed by the guys, who were slightly confused as to why the other girls were so worried. Hinata, who was closest to Sakura, crossed her arms. "How long has it been since you tried healing them?"
It took a few seconds before Sakura spoke. "This morning," she mumbled. Knowing exactly what the girls reactions would be.
Even though she mumbled, everyone still heard it. "Did she just say that it was this morning?" Tenten questioned loudly. Her eyes went wide before narrowing. "How stupid can you be Sakura? Do you know how much you risked today knowing you were traveling with that type of injury?"
"Don't call her stupid," Naruto instantly defended Sakura. "She probably has a reason. She always does." He looked to Sakura then. "Right Sakura?"
Sakura finally lifted her head up. "Of course I have reasons. I woke up this morning and I was having a little pain. I realized I hadn't really sat down and healed my ribs properly. But, when I tried to heal them, it just hurt worse and it wasn't working."
"And you still didn't mention it to us?" Ino questioned. She would have said more, but Shikamaru had placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I think you've said enough," Shikamaru muttered under his breath to her. I know Sakura probably doesn't want everyone interrogating her. The last time everyone started questioning her she flipped out.
Sakura only rolled her eyes at Ino. "I'm sorry that I was too busy jumping off waterfalls and having a psychotic breakdown to tell you right away. I'll be sure to get right on that the next time," she said sarcastically, as she moved to prop her hands on her hips. Although, the sudden movement caused a strong pain to come from her ribs. Bringing her hands to rest on her ribs she grimaced and turned her head away from everyone as tears began to fill her eyes.
Hinata noticed Sakura's flinch and then watched her cover her ribs. I know that has to hurt. And even though she shouldn't have waited so long to tell us, I can't be mad at her. She needs help. Closing the distance between Sakura and herself, she wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulders, and used her other arm to help support Sakura in the front. "Come on," she said softly to Sakura, helping her walk over to the nearest tree. "I'll help you sit down. Tell me if the pain gets worse okay?"
Sakura nodded, as she allowed Hinata to help her slowly sit down. Using the tree behind her for some support as well. At one point a sudden shot of pain went through her ribs, making her suddenly grip Hinata hard on the wrist, stopping the process. "Yeah, it hurts. A hell of a lot."
The next thing they knew, Neji was on Sakura's other side, supporting the rest of Sakura's weight. And with his help, Hinata was able to get Sakura to a sitting position. Once the pink haired girl was on the ground, Hinata dropped her own stuff to her side, then proceeded to help Sakura take her bag off. After Sakura's stuff was on the ground, Hinata started checking Sakura's ribs.
Neji still stood next to Sakura, not moving from the spot. His eyes went to Sakura's face, watching a mixture of pain and irritation flicker in her eyes. "I apologize Sakura."
Sakura immediately looked up at Neji, a small smile grew on her face. "Don't apologize. You have already apologized for hitting me in the first place, as I have apologized for randomly attacking you. This is because of me being stupid and not healing it like I was suppo-" She paused, flinching, and she sent a glare to Hinata. She pushed Hinata's hands away. "Yeah, that hurts."
Hinata only rolled her eyes. "There's no wonder why your body rejected your healing."
"What happened?" Ino questioned.
"Because of you waiting so long your ribs already started to heal back wrong. And since they have been healing wrong it's pushing up against your insides causing the pain. And you can't heal the ribs because they already have passed the point of going back," Hinata explained, her eyes watching for Sakura's reaction carefully. As she knew Sakura might get mad. But, she still saw nothing from Sakura, not even a slight change in her emotions. "That means you'll have to get your ribs broken again. That's the only way to reset them so they grow the right way."
As soon as Hinata stopped talking it grew silent. No one said a word. Everyone just kept their eyes on Sakura. The guys didn't have to be medical nin to know that breaking bones is painful.
Finally Sakura let out a frustrated sigh, kicking her feet a few times before slamming her fist into the ground causing it to shake slightly. "Damn it!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. Before letting her head fall back against the tree behind. She brought the palms of her hands to her forehead as she groaned. "This is just what I need right now."
Hinata flinched at the sound of Sakura's yell. Turning her head, she looked to Neji, then to Shikamaru. "What do you two think?"
"How long will she be unable to move on?" Neji countered immediately. It was nearly seven in the evening and they'd probably only travel for another hour or two before having to set up camp. There was no way they'd make it to the Leaf today even if they continued traveling. However they'd be much closer to the Leaf village if they did move on, but he wasn't going to suggest they travel with Sakura being in the state she was in.
Hinata was going to respond, but was interrupted by Sakura. Sakura sighed heavily, her eyes going to Hinata. "The process would take only thirty minutes wouldn't it? That's how long it would take me to do it if I wasn't in the hospital working on it."
Nodding her head slowly, Hinata let her hands fall so they rested on her lap. "But, I'm not as good of a medic as you Sakura. It would take me a good hour. Plus, you know the recovery for you will take a while after I'm done."
"I'm aware," Sakura muttered, sighing. Once again letting her eyes fall to looking at the ground, away from everyone else.
Shikamaru took a few steps forward so he was standing beside Neji. "So it's fair to say the recovery is the most time consuming. And it would be better if you weren't moved during the recovery."
"Of course that's what's best!" Ino exclaimed, rolling her eyes at him.
Muttering something that sounded an awful lot like "troublesome woman" under his breath towards Ino, before looking back at Sakura. "There wouldn't really be a point in leaving this area considering you won't recover before it gets really dark."
Nodding her head once, Sakura then went to Neji. "So I guess we'll set up camp here?"
"It will be better," Neji agreed, but narrowed her eyes at her look. "And before you suggest we travel ahead of you again, you might as well give up that thought because it's not going to happen."
"I know that," Sakura said, before sighing heavily. "Alright, since we are staying. Neji, Tenten, Ino, Sasuke, and Naruto need to go ahead and start setting up camp. I need Shikamaru and Hinata to stay here with me for a few minutes. Neji go ahead and give out assignments."
Neji turned around to face most of the group. "Ino is in charge of the fire, Tenten and I will go catch dinner, and Sasuke and Naruto will be searching the area." As soon as he gave out assignments everyone was off, Tenten being the only one who remained to wait for him.
Once Tenten and Neji left, Sakura looked between Shikamaru and Hinata. "So what exactly would be the best way to do this?"
Shikamaru looked to Hinata. "I know it will take you a while, which is fine. But, where are you planning on doing this?"
"We'll go somewhere nearby," Hinata replied right away. "She'll need her privacy, and it will be more stressful on her part if everyone were to be watching. It can make her feel like something will happen to her. I've seen it before when treating patients. One minute they are fine with someone watching them during a procedure the next they have an emotional breakdown thinking they were going to die."
Sakura raised an eyebrow in Hinata's direction. "Just what exactly are you planning on doing to me? Open heart surgery?"
Hinata only sent a glare in Sakura's direction. "Stop joking around Sakura. You know what I mean."
"That will be an issue," Shikamaru said, ignoring the two girls words. "It will be better if you are near someone, because if someone were to attack in the middle of it, you'll be weaker because of having to use your chakra during the healing. Sakura will be in pain, so she won't be able to defend as well." He sighed, knowing the girls would most likely start insisting upon privacy. "If you two want to do it privately, then we need to have at least two of us from the team nearby incase something happens. They don't have to be watching you, but behind some trees."
Hinata nodded immediately agreeing. "That's good. I think it should be Naruto and Sasuke."
"Why does it have to be them?" Sakura asked, her mind instantly thinking towards the earlier issues. Sasuke and her fighting and Naruto getting mixed up in the problem.
"Do you have a problem with them doing it?" Shikamaru asked, confused as to why she would react like that.
Sakura shrugged. "Depends on your definition of problem. Every time I look at either of them I want to punch a hole through something," she replied, her eyes looking into Shikamaru's, no emotion showing. "Do you consider that a "problem"?"
For the longest time Shikamaru stared at Sakura, not saying a thing, just watching her. Finally he looked away and at Hinata. "Maybe you should choose other people to stand watch."
Hinata only crossed her arms. She knew Sasuke and Sakura were fighting, and Naruto must have something to do with it. "No, Sasuke and Naruto are going to be the ones to do it."
Again with the silence, this time Sakura was glaring at Hinata. Shikamaru was looking at the sky, questioning why he was put in such strange situations like the one he was in. "Very well, I'll tell them when they come back here."
A/N: Believe it or not my favorite scene to write was Sakura and Sasuke fighting. Over the past couple weeks their relationship has been going strong, and all of a sudden they come across an issue. Do you think this will be a long fight between them? Enough to break them up?
Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.
Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)
Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)
