I really need to start updating faster…
But in my defense covid-19 really made whole last year disappear.
So, yeah, not dead. As you can see.
Enjoy!
They'd pretty much scoured through all of the junk in the room. They'd opened every single cabinet and box, peeked under every white sheet covering the furniture and carefully examined any object that might be of any value just to come to the conclusion that they in fact were in a room full of crap.
At first their spirits were high. They were determined to find something that would mean that their time here hadn't been wasted. But slowly as timed passed and they got to work, everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion.
There was nothing to be found.
Sakura was sitting on top of an old, wooden cabinet. There was an old knife in her hands that she'd found on the floor just a short while ago. She'd already given up on finding anything and at this point she didn't even care that she was wasting time. She knew that wasn't the way she should've acted. A small voice in the back of her head was still reminding her that she shouldn't give up like this. That she should get up and go do something before Ino really got ahead of her in the competition.
Ino.
She hadn't even thought of her friends, much less the bet she'd made with Ino. Once she'd gotten into the spirits of treasure hunting, the bet had been pretty much the last thing on her mind.
The knife was actually a dagger now that she looked at it more closely, but what surprised her was the weight. It was shorter than the length of her forearm and had looked almost fragile before she'd picked it up. It had decorative metallic hilt that darkened and faded over the years and a long blade that had clearly had been used lots in the past. Instead of having a smooth surface, it had lots of scratches and dents on the sides with the metal slightly bent in some places. It had probably been quite beautiful when it had been new.
She walked over to an old dresser that they had searched through a while ago. The white sheet that was supposed to be covering it was still bunched up on top of it. Apparently nobody bothered to properly cover up the furniture once they were done with it. And honestly, why would they? It wasn't like the things left down there hadn't been abandoned and left for decades if not centuries. A few sheets most likely weren't going to matter.
Sakura held the fabric in between her fingers. She tried to cut the edge of the fabric with the dagger's blade and actually managed to cut a long strip of the fabric. Apparently after all the years the blade was still relatively sharp.
A loud bang brought Sakura back from her thoughts and she quickly whipped her head back. Sasuke and Elliot had been tasked with lifting the biggest pieces of furniture and had now dropped a heavy looking chest from a little too high up to the ground for closer inspection.
"And this is the last one?" Chris asked Sasuke as he tried to open the lid to have a look inside only to find it locked.
The sight of the unopened chest brought a little hope back to her and her heart started to pound slightly faster.
She quickly stuffed the fabric into the pocket of her hoodie and rushed to Elliot's side who was crouched next to the chest trying to figure out how to open it.
"Ah, just what I needed!" He exclaimed and snatched the dagger from Sakura's hand before she could protest and quickly examined it in his hands before jamming the tip under the lid of the chest.
"You're welcome.." Sakura murmured and rolled her eyes. Chris shot her an apologizing smile as Elliot muttered something about "seeing this in a movie once".
For a while they stared at Elliot working before Aya sighed loudly and marched next to them from the pile of books she'd been going through
"Ugh, let me do it," Aya interrupted Elliot's work, snatching the dagger from his grasp and pulled out her wand instead.
Everyone tensed up at the sight of Aya's wand, which obviously annoyed her. "Calm down, would you? It's just a simple unlocking spell, jeez."
Aya simply swished her wand at the chest. "Aperta!"
The chest lock clicked and the lid flew open.
Books. Just a bunch of old books.
Even though normally Sakura would've loved scouring through every single one of those beaten up books, right now she felt defeated. They'd spent all this time looking through all of this stuff and finding absolutely nothing.
"I think it's clear that whoever was here before us probably took everything worth anything from here," Sasuke finally ended the pressing silence. "We should go."
Karin had been quiet for a while. Sakura saw the red haired girl quietly sitting on top of a table top covered with the same thin white sheet that any other bigger piece of furniture with an old looking book in her hands.
"Karin! Let's go!" Aya called out to her friend.
The redhead lifted her gaze from the book she'd been reading. "Oh you guys already want to go?"
Sakura looked at Karin weirdly. They'd probably been here for almost an hour without finding anything, of course they wanted to leave. "Yeah? It's not like we found anything."
Karin rolled her eyes and held up the book in her hands so that Sakura could see it. "Do you even know what this is?"
"It's a book." Sakura said, stating the obvious.
"Are you dumb or dumb?"
Sakura frowned at the question and Karin laughed. Karin's laugh actually seemed genuine.
Genuinely hateful.
Sakura's brows furrowed at the Karin's amused face.
"You're the headmistress' mentee and you can't even recognize a spell book?"
Sakura rolled her eyes. She had decided that she would just stay back, not cause a scene. "Karin, let's just g-"
"I mean it's absolutely ridiculous if you ask me." Karin suddenly said with a hint of amusement in her voice and swept her fire red hair over her shoulder.
Suddenly Sakura felt something snap inside of her. Some string, some sliver of her willpower that had held her together just snapped and she really had to resist the urge to break Karin's nose right there and then.
Sakura tightened her hands into tight fists, her nails digging into her palms. Karin was just trying to get a reaction out of her.
And it was working.
"Nobody asked you Karin and I couldn't care less about what you think. Just stop with the whole 'I'm better than you' act because right now there are more important issues than you being a complete bitch."
"It's not an act, I am better than you."
"Hey, let's not fight over this." Elliot tried to intercede, but was quickly cut off by Aya's laughter.
"Why not?" Aya joined in. "It's not like we have anything better to do?"
"Hey come on, Aya." This time it was Chris who spoke up. "Why are you getting so worked up about this?"
"Because THIS," Aya violently whipped her arm and gestured around the room, "is absolutely POINTLESS!" Aya screamed, drawing everyone's attention to her and threw the dagger she'd snatched from Elliot right at a wall.
Only it didn't hit a wall. Aya's throw hadn't been that great and the dagger flew right at the bottom of one of the curtain fabrics that lined the walls. Only, when it actually did hit the curtain, it didn't clatter against a wall and fall down to the ground. The fabric actually gave in and the small knife fell somewhere behind the curtain, clattering against something solid a bit further away.
Sakura's eyes suddenly brightened with a new fire as she let out a surprised gasp. "Aya, you're a genious."
She half-walked half-ran over to the curtain and yanked the heavy fabric to the side, revealing a hidden doorway and a small, dark staircase down.
Elliot's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Wow, Aya, you were actually useful."
Sakura rolled her eyes but didn't object to Elliot's remark. "Just get in."
The spiral staircase seemed to go on for a while. They must've descended what felt like at least two or three floors before reaching the bottom. Sakura calculated that they had at least, starting from the point they had been teleported to, descended down somewhere from four to five levels, which was actually making up for the lost time they spent wandering around in the junk room. Now that they were way lower than their starting point, the treasures were bound to become rarer but they would also be worth a lot more points if they managed to get their hands on them.
Sakura's eyes needed a second to get used to the amount of light. The stairway had been very dimly lit and the vast hall they'd popped out from the stairway to was something everyone needed a second to take in.
Unlike what Sakura had guessed prior to entering the stairway, they hadn't popped out into another random corridor on another level of the labyrinth. They had ended up in a vast hall that was easily the size of the training yard they had had their first flying lesson in. The whole hall looked like it belonged in a fantasy castle.
They had descended down into a whole different level of architecture. Far gone were the surroundings that resembled a medieval castle. This was something completely else. The hall had smooth walls. It was as if the ceiling and each of the walls had been made of one huge slab of pale gray stone that bore the familiar carvings that Sakura recognized from before. Those seemed to be a running theme here. Huge pillars made from the same pale, smooth stone ran along the sides of the hall and huge fire pits hung on chains from the ceiling with blazing blue flames in each one. Other than that the room was basically empty. It was something Sakura imagined a throne room would look like if someone stripped it of all of the furniture. On the other side of the hall, where the throne would've been had there been one, was a pair of massive dark oak doors.
"Wow." Sakura heard Chris gasp behind her as he too escaped the narrow and dark stairway, his voice echoing through the hall.
"Tell me about it, Chris," Elliot said, silently nodding along.
Maybe it was the vastness of the space or maybe it was the blue glow the whole hall basked in but nevertheless Sakura was astonished.
"We should get going," Sasuke suddenly said. This brought Sakura back, a little surprised even that Sasuke was so quick to get moving forwards. And then she remembered the competition, which she'd let slip her mind once again.
"Yes!" Karin exclaimed, sneaking to Sasuke's side and slipping her arm under his so that she was holding on to his arm. "At least someone's still got their head in the game."
Sakura couldn't help but glare. Of course she had her head in the game. She felt more than wrong watching how Karin was acting with Sasuke, but her remarks, even if they seemed general, were directed to her.
She didn't know why she felt like this. It wasn't like she actually cared, but something about the view made her feel sick. It felt forced, but Sasuke wasn't pushing her away. But yet, her own cheeks flushed with shame every time she thought about what had happened above ground before the treasure hunt had started. Why in the world had she done it, pretty much the same thing what Karin was doing right now? Even if it wasn't real, it made her feel frustrated. Sakura didn't want to watch.
"Let's go then," Sakura said, quickly turning around and heading for the other end of the hall.
Their footsteps echoed in the vast hall but otherwise they were pretty much silent. Aya was walking in between Elliot and Chris and Karin was still clutching to Sasuke. It took them a good while to cross over to the other side, a good minute or so, which was done in utter silence. The doorway was much larger than Sakura had understood a second ago. On either side of them was a torch lit with the same blue fire and above the door was was some sort of a metallic pole sticking out of the wall.
The doors were locked.
Sakura had guessed they would be from the moment she laid her eyes on the double doors.
Elliot tried pushing and kicking the door, they tried pushing and pulling on it together but the doors didn't budge.
Sakura stepped back from the door, her hands red and out of breath after violently pushing and pulling on the doors for a good part of the last five minutes.
"Now it's your turn," Sasuke said, gesturing towards the door while backing away from it.
"What?" Sakura demanded.
"Your turn. Try magic," Sasuke spelled it out for her. "Isn't that what you're being tested on here?"
Oh.
"W-well yes," Sakura admitted, hot embarrassment rising to her cheeks. "Not solely, but partially yes."
Karin gestured towards Aya who flicked her wand with ease. "Aperta."
Nothing happened.
"Well that's it then," Elliot said and shrugged. "I think I remember the way out." He started to walk to the other side, but the finality of his words was betrayed by a grin tugging at the corner of his lips.
Sakura had her eyes fixed on the doors, trying to figure out another way to go about this. The opening spell didn't work and at least she didn't know of any other spells used to open doors or locks. The doors did have handles, but they didn't move when pulled or pushed by six people, so she doubted that they could force the doors, even with magic.
"Well isn't these some other spell you could use?" Chris tried, first glancing to Sakura who was closer to the door and then to Aya and Karin who were standing a few feet away.
Karin flipped her hair over her shoulder, twisting her wand around in her hands. "Well, I guess we could try to open the door by force."
Sakura flinched at the thought of Karin's destructive powers.
"But I doubt that'll do the trick," the redhead admitted, walking over to the doors and sliding her hands on the smooth surface of the doors. "These doors aren't protected by a shield charm, nor are they destructible by force."
At that moment Sakura was reminded of the fact that Karin knew so much more about magic that she did. It made sense, Karin came from a magical bloodline and had probably been taught from a very young age. She was practiced in ways that Sakura was not. Sakura couldn't have known the things Karin told them just by looking and feeling a door. Even if Sakura didn't like it, she was impressed by Karin. She'd known Karin was powerful, but her actions now and in the room where she blew up the statue spoke of a much higher understanding of magic.
No matter how crazy Karin was, Sakura did have to admit that in some ways she truly was inferior to the red haired girl.
"Oh, come on!" Elliot whined. He'd obviously not gone far. "There has to be something!"
He was right, there had to be something - a way, a trick, a spell, a potion. Just something to get the door to open.
At first Sakura had thought it was a decorative metal bar sticking out of the wall, but now that she had a closer look it seemed like an actual sword was stuck to the wall above the door. Half of the sword's hilt had been sunken into the wall, where it served as a decoration above the door.
"It couldn't be.." Sakura whispered, looking up at the sword. Memories of the night before flashed through her mind.
"What?"
"That sword," Sakura said, pointing up at it, trying to gather her thoughts into a solid explanation of what she was getting at. "It's stuck in the stone wall."
The sword had a long blade with carvings so tiny that Sakura couldn't make them out and a golden hilt. She'd looked at dozens of blades and swords from one the books they'd scoured through in preparation for the hunt, and she knew that there was a good chance that she was wrong, but she had a feeling that they'd encountered one of the most famous weapons in history.
"The sword in the stone," Sasuke echoed.
Sakura nodded. "Excalibur."
"Excalibur," Elliot repeated, surprise clear on his face. "The excalibur. Like King Arthur's excalibur."
Sakura grinned. "The same one."
She sighed and tried to find a way around the puzzle they were faced with. Now that she'd figured it out, it was obvious. Since attacking the doors wasn't the answer, they needed to look for another angle.
There was a way.
"I mean I think I've seen the animated movie," Elliot said, scratching the back of his head. "But what is the sword in the stone?"
"The sword in the stone is an Arthurian legend," Sasuke declared, much to the surprise of Sakura. "Where Arthur was taken and hidden away as a baby after both of his parents, his mother and father, had died."
Sasuke folded his arms over his chest and held his gaze on the door. Sakura was unabashedly staring right at him, maybe because he was in the middle of a story, maybe because she couldn't hide being surprised by his knowledge of the legend. If it was someone, besides Elliot, who she would've guessed not to be educated in legends and tales of magical artefacts, it would be him.
Maybe Sasuke wasn't what Sakura had figured he'd be.
"But why was he taken away," Elliot asked, interrupting her thoughts. "I mean, shouldn't he have been made king after his parents died?"
Sakura shrugged. "Isn't there always some evil out to get you in these stories?"
Sasuke just went on. "And Arthur didn't grow up royal. After he turned 15, a stone with a sword stuck to it appeared in the middle of the town square with a promise that whoever could pull the sword from the stone would be the true king of England."
Chris first looked at Sasuke, then Sakura and finally at the sword. "So how do you expect us to get the sword?" he paused for a while and grinned. "Unless one of us is the true king of England. In that case it should be pretty straight forward."
Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "And there was nothing about honor or glory or anything that was a condition to pulling out the sword, anything the puller had to be or have," she asked Sasuke who shook his head in response.
But it couldn't be. It's couldn't be that simple.
"Well, in that case, I think there's only one thing to do," Sakura said, her eyes flicking up to the sword. "Let's pull the sword out."
"It's like 15 feet above us!" Aya exclaimed, gesturing towards the sword. "How do you expect us to get it from there?!"
"I was thinking that maybe Karin," Sakura turned to look at the red haired witch, "would have some sort of a spell for us."
This time Karin didn't seem to get a word out, her eyes widening just a little bit. "I-I," she muttered.
"What?" Sakura said, raising her eyebrows. "No pulling spell, catching spell? Nothing?"
If looks could kill, Karin would've murdered Sakura right then and there.
"I do know a summoning spell," she announced to Sakura, eyes narrowing and a triumphant smile spreading in success of finding a solution she hadn't thought of.
"It won't work," Sasuke interceded before Sakura had the chance to.
Karin's eyes widened in shock, but Sakura knew what he was getting at.
"Because in the legend someone had to pull out the sword," she said, Sasuke catching her eye.
"So one of us has to pull it out?" Chris asked, which Sakura confirmed with a nod.
"How?" Elliot asked, gesturing toward the sword. "In case you forgot, the sword is still far over ten feet in the air. How the hell is one of us supposed to get up there to pull the sword out. And even then, who will it be?"
Sakura hadn't thought of that. She'd completely forgotten that the sword was far above them and beyond their reach. Sasuke and Chris were the tallest members of their team, but neither would be able to reach the sword just by jumping.
"No jumping," Sasuke declared, coming to the same conclusion as Sakura as he examined the wall, probably for possible spots to climb up. Besides the torches next to the doors, there was nothing to hold on to or push up from so that you could reach the sword. "No climbing."
Sakura turned to look at Karin and Aya, who were both silent. She didn't even bother asking about a levitation spell or a flying spell, they would've said if they knew any magical way to get up to the sword.
"But you guys can fly, right?" Elliot tried, getting excited. "You could just fly up and grab the sword."
Sakura sighed. Even if she had a broom, there was no guarantee that she would be able to fly up and grab the sword.
Karin sighed loudly. "Yes, we can fly. With brooms!" she yelled. "Do you see a broom anywhere?"
Elliot didn't respond, Sakura turned away from Karin to look at Sasuke. To her surprise, he was also looking at her.
"We could try lifting someone up," he suggested, still holding Sakura's gaze.
She considered the thought. It was good, probably the best they'd had. "Yeah. That could work," she said, her words sounding oddly breathy for some reason.
Sakura cleared her throat. "If you stand on Chris' shoulders or Chris on yours, you'd reach the sword easily."
They were both easily over 6 feet so there was no doubt they would be able to reach the sword. Sakura turned to look at Chris, who seemed uncomfortable. His eyes were on his wrist and then Sakura remembered his wrist.
He held his hand up. "I won't be able to support anyone on my shoulders much less pull a sword out of a wall," he admitted.
Sakura flashed him an apologizing smile.
"Well if standing on shoulders won't work, maybe we could boost one of you girls up and you guys grab the sword," Elliot suggested.
"What kind of cheerleaders do you think we are?" Aya demanded, but Sakura didn't think Elliot's idea was half bad.
"Actually, that could work," Sakura said, thinking the plan through. It would be close, but it could be possible.
Elliot's eyes widened. "You think?"
"Yeah," Sakura said, bringing her hands to her sides. "If one of us can be thrown high enough, she would technically be able to grab the sword."
"Getting the sword, though, is a whole other matter. There's a chance none of us can pull it out of the wall," Sakura said, but knew that this was their best shot. It made sense. If they could just get the sword out of the wall, it was bound to at least do something.
"Well, then, who gets thrown?" Karin asked, gesturing towards Sasuke. "It's obvious Sasuke is the one to boost since Chris can't throw and Sasuke is the tallest."
Sakura wanted to object that Elliot could just as well boost someone up, but since they could be talking of inches of difference that could determine whether or not they could reach the sword, she kept quiet. Sasuke didn't object to being the one to boost one of them up so that matter seemed settled.
"Well, Aya is the shortest," Chris said, bringing the fingers of his unarmed hand to his chin. "So maybe not her."
"Yeah," Aya said, backing away. "There's no way in hell any of you would throw me up and have me fall to the ground. So yeah, no thanks."
Sakura had no objections to being thrown up but Aya made an excellent point about having to fall back down. But then again, she did know a feather falling spell.
All of the boys cast evaluating glances on them. Sakura thought about it as well. They were both around the same height and same build. She might've been a hair taller, but not so much that it made that much of a difference.
Elliot shook his head. "I don't think there's much of a difference."
Sakura knew what he meant but the words felt as if he slashed her with a hot whip. Apparently the feeling was mutual as Karin took several steps away from Karin.
"There is nothing similar about us," she said, almost hissing. Sakura just rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, I'll do it. Not that big of a thing," she finally said, looking at Sasuke, for any signs that he didn't approve. He showed no such signs and Sakura walked closer to him.
"Come on," he said, before walking directly below the sword. Sakura followed, nervousness building up in her stomach with every step. They were actually doing this. Her mind was flooded with images from before, when she'd wrapped her arms around him and he'd snaked his arms around her. The raspiness of his voice then, how he'd looked at her.
Then she stopped right in front of him, taking a deep breath before looking up at his eyes. He was looking at her. "Ready?" he asked.
Sakura nodded. She didn't trust her voice. She could feel everyone's eyes on them but wouldn't turn her eyes away from his.
"Let's do this then."
They were slightly crouched together, one of Sakura's feet in Sasuke's palms and her hands on his shoulders. It felt odd to be this close to him again.
"On three," Sasuke suddenly said, bringing her out of her thoughts. "One."
Sakura took a shallow breath. "Two."
She felt electrified, like the contact might zap her at any moment. But it was hard not to look at him. And he looked at her too.
"WAIT!"
Sakura registered Karin's scream, but it seemed so far away, like she didn't exist in the moment. All she saw were Sasuke's deep onyx eyes. Nothing seemed to exist beyond them.
"Three."
And she jumped the highest she could, fingers reaching up towards the ceiling. At the same time she could feel Sasuke pushing her up, her momentum gathering. If she could just get a hold of the sword, if she could just reach high enough.
It seemed as if time was slowing down. Slowly but surely she rose up several feet in the air and managed to get her fingers wrapped around the sword's hilt. It felt cool in her hands. Then she yanked the hardest she could, feeling the gravity already pull her down. For a quarter of a second she wondered if she even could. There was a big chance that she wouldn't be able to.
But then the sword gave away slightly before fully being drawn from the wall.
And then time sped up again and Sakura could feel herself falling freely, the sword in her hand almost pulling her down. On instinct she summoned her wand and pointed it to the ground.
"Pluma procidens!" she exclaimed, afraid to hit the ground. But then, her body relaxed into the familiar weightlessness and she gracefully flowed back to the ground with sword in one hand and her wand in the other.
When the gravity returned back to her body, the sword in her hand almost fell from her grip. It was surprisingly heavy, much heavier than her wand, but then again, real swords were probably supposed to be really heavy.
"That was amazing!" Elliot exclaimed, rushing to stand next to Sakura as she turned the sword over in her hands. The pinkette was surprised by his enthusiasm but held the sword up so that he could see.
"You did it!" Even Chris' calm composure was replaced by excitement.
Sakura shrugged, feeling the rush adrenaline slowly fade away and smiled. "No big."
Karin looked even more mad than usual, but Aya on the other hand seemed happy that they'd gotten the sword. Or that was until Karin smacked her shoulder.
Then Sakura turned to face Karin, the sword in her hands. "Did you say something? Before I jumped I mean?"
Karin's jaw twitched as she folded her arms over her chest. "No."
"Oh, okay then," Sakura breezily said and turned around to look at the small hole that was left by the sword.
Sasuke was standing a little further away, he'd obviously gotten out from underneath after he'd thrust her up. Smart, because if she'd failed the feather falling spell she would've come crashing down on him.
He hadn't said a word, but he didn't need to. Sakura couldn't have gotten the sword without him and part of the praise was deservedly his.
Then Sakura thrust the sword forwards, offering it to Sasuke, who seemed surprised by the action. Sakura shifted her hold on it so that she held the hilt towards Sasuke.
"It's yours," she said, shrugging like it was nothing. "You earned it. I just jumped and pulled it out of the wall."
Sasuke hesitantly took the sword in his hands and looked at it before shifting his gaze back up to Sakura. "I thought that pulling out was the whole point," he said, a slight smirk on his lips.
Sakura couldn't help but return it with a smirk of her own. "Well, maybe it is. I'll take it back then, if you're giving me the whole credit."
Sasuke stepped back as Sakura started towards him, in an attempt to get the sword back from him.
"Uhhuh, no way," Sasuke protested, avoiding Sakura. "You gave it to me, it's mine now."
"Besides," Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "I did all the heavy lifting."
Sakura's eyes widened at his comment but before she was able to say anything they were interrupted by the sudden movement of the doors opening. They swung back easily, as if they hadn't just withstood the strength of six people pushing on them.
"I'm gonna kill him with that sword," Sakura thought.
Sakura's eyes glimmered as she tried to grab the sword from Sasuke again, hoping that he'd be too distracted by the doors to notice. Unfortunately for her he noticed a split second too fast and managed to dodge her attempts.
"You're gonna have to pry it out of my hand, Haruno," he said with a challenging look. Their eyes met, emerald clashing with onyx and it seemed like nothing existed in that moment besides the two of them.
"I will, you know," she said coolly.
"Good luck with that." Then Sasuke took off through the door and turned left, sprinting down a hallway before Sakura could even react.
"Hey!" she yelled, sprinting after him. "Not fair!"
The doors opened straight onto a hallway, walls made of the same material as the walls in the hall but the blue fire in torches was replaced with the regular orange kind.
Sasuke wasn't that far away from her and she was certain she'd eventually be able to catch up with him. She'd held the sword, it was heavy and even he'd get tired of carrying it.
Or would he? He had just thrust her up into the air by himself.
He turned a corner and she followed. He was fast, but she wasn't too shabby at running herself. Eventually they'd have to stop, but she didn't want to. This was the most fun she'd had during the whole treasure hunt.
But then Sasuke suddenly stopped and Sakura almost run into him. "What-"
The ground underneath them suddenly made a horrible grinding sound and everything beneath them lurched downwards.
Sakura didn't have time to even react, not to even scream. She held a tight grip on Sasuke's shirt as they fell.
They crashed down to a hallway directly underneath the one they'd been running on. Everything about her seemed to hurt, but nothing seemed broken. She was banged up and bruised, but if she was something, she was lucky.
She was covered in stone dust and small bits of stones, sitting in the remains of what used to be the hallway over their heads. Luckily only a very small spot had collapsed.
"You okay," Sakura managed to say, coughing from the amount of stone dust in the air. All she could think about was that they'd been separated by their team and that they really needed to get back to them unless they wanted to call it quits.
"Sakura?" a familiar voice suddenly called out.
For a second Sakura was certain she was hearing things, but then a familiar blonde figure came into the light with a look of surprise.
Sakura couldn't believe it. The last person she'd have thought to run into.
"Ino?"
❦ Goddess of Glam