Three
Sasuke
The tree shatters around him in a million tiny pieces, shooting splinters in all directions like arrows. It feels good to break something. To feel something.
Ever since Orochimaru told him he would be responsible for the girl, he has been driven to distraction by rage and insidious irritation. He can barely even imagine it: a decorated army commander reduced to babysitter. Babysitter of a spoiled little injured princess who will no doubt whine at him all through the day and night. An overgrown child.
His walk back to the medical tent is slow. It has been a week since his admittedly violent persuasion of the girl. According to Kabuto, her eyes are open now and she is cooperating. At least something is going right.
When he pushes back the tent flap, he finds the girl sitting cross-legged on her bedroll across from Kabuto, who is winding a bandage around her barely concealed breasts. She looks at him with her spring green eyes and blushes, the pink of her cheeks a stark contrast to her ghostly white skin. His eyes shoot to the ceiling of the tent of their own accord, the gray of the canvas replacing her loud, contrasting colors.
"Ah, Sasuke," Kabuto's voice is steely. "I was just finishing changing Sakura's bandages. Her burns are…extensive."
"Hn," Sasuke hears himself grumble. He just wants to check the girl's progress and leave the tent. Part of him hopes she isn't well enough to be released just yet – he isn't looking forward to supervising her.
"She is doing much better, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know," Kabuto speaks again, the syrupy lilt in his tone grating on Sasuke's ears. "You'll be able to take her soon."
"W-what?" the girl splutters, indignation keeping her cheeks a blotchy scarlet.
Sasuke tilts his head, returning his gaze to the pair on the ground. This is the first time he's heard her voice since she begged him to kill her. It sounds raspy, like she swallowed something sharp. Lots of something sharp.
He clears his throat, pulling his eyes from the girl and focusing on Kabuto. Slimy little –
"Oh, haven't I told you, Sakura-chan? Sasuke is going to be watching over you once you're out of my care," Kabuto explains to her, casually tucking a lock of hair behind her ear as he speaks. The medic's gaze seems to linger on the pink strands.
"Kabuto," Sasuke snaps, drawing the medic's attention. "How much longer do you need to keep her here?"
"Why?" Kabuto smiles, rising to stand after gently lowering the girl to her back on the bedroll. "Excited to have her all for yourself, hm?"
"Is being insubordinate and shitty a part of your job description, or do you do it just for fun?" Sasuke snaps, eager to get out of the simpleton's presence. "Answer the question."
"She needs a couple more days," Kabuto sighs, casting a strange look down at the now resting girl on the floor, her back turned to them, curled away. "She was perilously close to death." He punctuates the last word with a heated glance in Sasuke's direction. "She may never recover fully. Her heart is weak."
"But she is alive," Sasuke hears himself deadpan.
"Yes," Kabuto frowns. "No thanks to you."
"I would watch your words, if I were you," Sasuke scowls at the shorter man. "I wouldn't waste insults for the sake of an injured prisoner."
"She's…she's not just a prisoner, though. She's different. A princess," Kabuto casts that strange look upon the girl again. "You'll see. You should feel guilty for what you did to her."
"Guilty?" Sasuke scoffs. "For injuring an enemy? For allowing her to live? Has all your logic left you?"
"Has yours left you? You wreaked havoc on her organs. She's twenty-one years old, and her heart is currently laboring like it's sixty-five," Kabuto's voice is pitching higher and higher. "Who knows the long-term repercussions? She...she didn't deserve this."
Sasuke narrows his eyes at the medic. "Why do you care so much? There's a good chance she'll be dead at the end of this war anyway, her heart won't matter to her then."
Kabuto doesn't reply to this, he merely squats down beside the girl and appears to check her breathing. "You can take her in a few days. I need to stabilize her heart rate a little more first."
Sasuke nods to himself and leaves the tent, preparing to enjoy his last few days of solitude in peace.
Sakura
"Can't I just stay here with you?" I ask, barely believing the words as they leave my lips. Never would I have thought that I would be asking to stay with Kabuto, but the nearly two weeks I have spent with him in the medical tent have me growing used to him. We have formed an awkward, strange sort of almost-companionship over the past several days. He has been gentle and kind to me, with the exception of my very first day here. He found me an old, white shift to wear, and while it is tattered and worn, it is far better than my burned and bloodied clothes. He brushes my hair and keeps the cruder of the soldiers away from me. He has seen me naked countless times as he has helped me bathe and cleaned my wounds. His eyes have only strayed a handful of times…
I feel sort of safe with him…at least safer than I will feel with Sasuke.
"I'm afraid not, flower," Kabuto sighs, crouching down to look at me fully. "Although, I wish you could. I really do."
"Sasuke is going to kill me," I fret at him, allowing my lower lip to tremble. I'm not sure pouting will do me any favors here, but it generally seems to work on Kabuto.
"He's not going to kill you," Kabuto says kindly, but his eyes convey something different entirely. Fear. "He wouldn't do something that stupid."
"He already almost killed me," I frown sadly, looking down at the nearly transparent skin on my arms. Kabuto told me that I lost about fifteen pounds. When I let myself think about it, I still can't believe that it was Sasuke, of all people, who did this to me. Sasuke, who used to help me up when I fell down and would brush the leaves from my hair so my mother wouldn't see. I can't think about it. I won't think about it.
"They'll want you alive, Sakura, he's not going to hurt you anymore," Kabuto frowns back.
"He can hurt me without killing me," I whisper, fear causing my voice to tremble. The shackles on my wrists feel suddenly tighter. My chest hurts.
Kabuto's silence speaks volumes.
Sasuke
The girl looks as though she is being marched to her death when Kabuto leads her to Sasuke's tent. The Uchiha quirks an eyebrow heavenward when he sees her clutch onto Kabuto's hand, raising unsteadily onto her bare tiptoes to whisper something into the medic's ear. Kabuto nods once, pats her on the head, then gently urges her towards the tent.
When her eyes fall on Sasuke, they are dead.
She casts another look back at Kabuto before slowly making her way forward, energy-shackled arms hanging limply at her sides. She looks barely strong enough to walk, and he tells her so.
She shoots him a look so full of fire that he thinks he may have imagined the nothingness in her eyes only moments before.
"Sasuke," Kabuto calls to him after the girl has entered the tent. "Here are her elixirs. You have to make sure to give her a sip of the blue one before she sleeps, she should be able to tell you when she needs the others."
"Hn," Sasuke sighs in annoyance. "Fine."
"She will wake up choking if you don't give it to her," Kabuto urges as he thrusts the bottles into his hands. "Let me know when you start to run out and I will get you more."
Sasuke only nods, taking the handful of bottles into the tent with him and depositing them on his little table in the corner. He hears Kabuto loitering around outside of the tent before finally walking away. Good.
He casts an irritated glance over at the girl, noting how she is standing stiffly in the corner with a thin bedroll in her arms. She is looking pointedly away from him.
"Just put it down in the corner," Sasuke says, turning to sit at the small table situated in the opposite end of the tent. Thankfully, his tent is larger than the typical soldier's. There is plenty of room for ample space between his bedroll and hers. He notices that she pushes her own as far up against the canvas edge of the tent as she can, making sure to be as far from his bedroll as possible.
Fine by him. The thought of having to share his tent with anyone is disgusting to him. He likes his personal space, and the thought of having to share it with this brittle little woman is enough to make him crazy.
He does his best to ignore her as he turns his eyes to his work on the table. He has several letters to open and some strategic proposals to go over before nightfall, and he doesn't plan on allowing the little prisoner stop him from doing so.
Sakura
I have never been so angry in my entire life.
I am angry at Kabuto for leaving me here. I know that it is not his fault and that he was merely following orders, but there is a part of me that cannot forgive him for depositing me into Sasuke's cruel hands. He actually hand-delivered me to my would-be murderer.
I am angry at Sasuke. I am beyond angry. He is like a spoiled, petulant child, throwing raging fits when he doesn't get his way. I tell myself not to even look at him once I am in the tent. I will not give him the satisfaction of letting him see any fear within my eyes. I hope he can feel my hatred.
I am still baffled by it all. My situation has only barely sunk in, and I still have not really accepted it. Sasuke almost killed me. Sasuke. He may have caused irreversible damage to my heart and other organs. My fingertips are still buzzing with a horrible, unnatural pain. I never dreamed I would see him again, but I always thought that if I did, he might greet me with a polite nod at the very least. I never thought he would capture me.
I never thought he would hurt me.
I study him warily, letting my eyes drift over his form only when his attention is fully captivated by whatever he is looking at on his table. His shoulders are broad now, but he still holds a thin, lean figure like he had in our younger years. I see little Sasuke in him when I look hard enough. I see him in the spikes of his hair, I see him in the angular lines of his face.
I shake my head quickly, tearing my distrustful eyes from the traitorous man. Little Sasuke is dead. The only thing left of him is this shell of a man, and I do not know him.
We are strangers.
Sasuke
She now sits on her little, ragged bedroll in the corner, eyes unfocused as she stares off into space. Her face is more sunken than he remembers it, her cheeks are hollow and her eyes are large. And frustratingly green.
She doesn't speak to him, doesn't look at him. She just stares at the wall of the tent.
Sasuke frowns down at her from his seat at the small table. He's been going over maps for hours, and the girl hasn't made so much as a peep.
She looks as brittle as a dry leaf in the cold season, he muses, eyes flickering between her and the work before him. Perhaps Kabuto really is incompetent. She looks barely healed at all. She is somehow even smaller than she was before, her arms and legs look like twigs that could snap at any moment. There are deep purple smudges beneath her ridiculously bright eyes. Her hair is impractically long.
She is wearing some sort of peasant's shift and her feet are bare, and he can't help but scoff to himself at the fact that she has probably never lived in such squalor in all her life. Old, forgotten memories of pink-hair and barefeet flash briefly through his mind. He blinks the thoughts away.
Idly, he wonders how long he'll be stuck with her. He hopes not for long, as the situation is already proving to be uncomfortable at best. He can't believe Orochimaru won't just allow her to stay in the medical tent. That is obviously where she belongs. It is clear that Kabuto would be more than happy to keep her.
She is lying on her side now, facing away from him, shoulders shaking lightly. Maybe she is cold. Maybe she is crying.
Sasuke goes back to his work.
Sakura
It is my third day in my makeshift-prison. I have not spoken to Sasuke once. He has asked me questions, he has scolded me, he has threatened me, but I am proud to know that I have not said a word to him. I smile secretly every time I see him fuming at his table, glad to know that I can at least cause him some form of discomfort, at least.
He leaves me alone for long periods throughout the day, sealing the walls and the flap of the tent with a barrier to prevent me from leaving. I rolled my eyes at it the first day, as if I was really going to try and escape in broad daylight, half-dead and surrounded by enemy soldiers. The second day, however, I was glad for it. A soldier tried to come into Sasuke's tent and was sent flying backwards by the barrier. I don't know if he knew that I was inside, but I wasn't eager to find out what might happen to me if someone who wasn't supposed to find me in here did find me.
I sleep for much of the day, but the time I spend awake is plagued with boredom and a growing depression. I think of Hinata, Ten-Ten, Kiba, and Lee often. Are they alright? Are they on their way home? Did they already make it there? Are they even alive? I am nearly driven crazy by all the time I have to think on such things.
My thoughts often drift to home, as well. I hope both of my parents are alright. I hope they don't know about me yet. The stupid, wishful part of me hopes that they somehow never find out that I have been stolen away from my peaceful little cabin. But I know that as soon as my party returns home, assuming they do return home, they will tell my parents everything.
They will tell Naruto too.
My heart aches terribly when I think of him. Naruto has stayed by my side through it all. After Sasuke was taken away, he was there for me. He matured faster than I ever thought possible, becoming a man before my very eyes seemingly overnight. I cried in his arms more times than I can count. Sometimes, he would cry too.
I love Naruto. I always have.
He was my second kiss, after Sasuke. We courted awhile, unofficially of course. Even though my parents knew and liked Naruto, they never would have consented to my being with him. My parents love me, but the Kingdom always comes first, sometimes even before my own happiness. My mother explained to me that this is the way things have to be for little princesses. And so I hid Naruto from them. We kissed in the forest and we passed notes to each other in the market. We loved each other in the way children love each other.
When we were sixteen, we realized the way children love each other is beautiful, but not the kind of love that means spending forever together. I realized that I didn't love Naruto the same way I loved Sasuke. He had been gone for four years, and my heart still ached whenever I thought about him. My heart is still aching. And so Naruto and I broke off our relationship, both of us promising to always be there for the other.
Even when he started to get busy with mage-training, even when he left the village for specialized lessons from far away masters, even when he began seeing Hinata, he still made time to be my friend. I was so grateful for them both. I am still so grateful for them both. I desperately hope Hinata will be home soon, safely wrapped in Naruto's loving arms. They both deserve to be so happy.
I remember the first time I heard word of Sasuke, of what he was doing and what he had become. I had always assumed he was living a peaceful, quiet life in Sound. I never thought he would become an army commander for the enemy. I cried all day at the creek, my tears washed away by the flowing water. Naruto had sat beside me, eyes dry but just as miserable as I was inside. Naruto and I died a little that day. We held hands for the first time in over a year.
War began shortly after that.
Naruto is extremely powerful these days, and so he of course has been away fighting for most of the last two years. Hinata and I have worried over him countless nights, sitting in my room in the castle fretting over his safety. She would often fall asleep next to me in my bed, only to wake up the next morning apologizing profusely. I smile as I remember her blushing cheeks.
"Sakura?" a voice startles me out of my thoughts.
I look up to see Kabuto pushing the tent flap aside, a medicine bottle full of purple liquid in his hand.
"Yes, come right in," Sasuke grumbles from his place at the table, scowling down at the papers on his desk. He doesn't look up.
"Kabuto!" I smile, happy to see a mostly-friendly face. I realize this is the first time I have spoken inside Sasuke's tent and cringe a bit, but then I reason that as long as I am talking to Kabuto and not to Sasuke, it's alright.
Kabuto smiles brightly at me in response to my eagerness. He seems glad of my enthusiasm. "I brought you a potion to help with the tingling in your extremities," he says, crouching down to sit beside me on my bedroll. His arm brushes against mine, and I flinch a bit at the sudden, intimate contact. "I would have had it to you sooner, but it took me a week and a half to brew."
Forgetting about his close proximity for a moment and zeroing in on the potion, I grab it from his hands and fix him with the most grateful smile I can muster. "Thank you, Kabuto," I say, leaning forward to press a chaste kiss on his cheek. Probably not my wisest idea, but I feel the need to show him my gratitude - the nearly constant buzzing in my arms and legs is tiresome and sometimes painful. The kiss happened on impulse, the kind of thing I would have done with a friend back home. I cringe a bit.
His fingers raise to touch his face, lingering on the spot where I kissed him. He is looking at me like he would like to kiss me back, and I am instantly a little wary. I like Kabuto, but he is still a member of the Sound army, and even though he may think I have forgotten, I still remember him slapping me. I still remember his hand closing over my throat. I try to scoot backwards as subtly as I can.
My salvation comes from an unexpected source.
"Get out, Kabuto. I have work to do, and I'm sure you do as well," Sasuke snaps. I look up to see him scowling at the white-haired man.
Kabuto grinds his teeth so loud that I can hear it from where I sit beside him. He turns back to look at me, a hint of that earlier anger still on his face as he reaches to brush the back of his knuckles against my cheek. A cold chill rushes over me and I shiver, hoping he doesn't notice and mistake my shuddering for something else. "I'll be back by the end of the week to check on your wounds again," he says finally, standing and marching out of the tent without another look back.
I can feel Sasuke glaring at me, as though it is my fault that Kabuto came in here and disrupted him. I refuse to meet his eyes, taking a sip of my new elixir instead and lying down with the bottle clenched firmly in my hand.
The pain relief comes in about ten minutes. I am so relieved that I feel my eyes begin to grow heavy. It is still light out, but I am suddenly exhausted - maybe the medication has sedating effects, or maybe having my pain lessened is just extremely relaxing to me. Regardless of the reason, I surrender myself to sleep, hoping Sasuke stays far away from my dreams.
Sasuke
Sasuke appraises the white-haired man sitting next to the girl on her bedroll. He is nearly sitting in her lap. He has given her some sort of potion, Sasuke sees, and she kisses him on the cheek in return. Sasuke scoffs lightly in disgust beneath his breath. They are enemies, and yet they sit hip-to-hip, cavorting like best friends. Or lovers.
"Get out, Kabuto. I have work to do, and I'm sure you do as well," Sasuke snaps at the man, tired of watching him make doe-eyes at the prisoner. Something will have to be done about the medic and his priorities. Perhaps he will talk with Orochimaru about it.
Despite Sasuke's command, Kabuto reaches forward to touch her cheek before leaving, telling her he will be back to check on her and then storming out of the tent. What was it about this girl that encouraged his subordinates to disobey him? First Karin and Suigetsu, and now Kabuto. If she wasn't wearing the magical shackles, he would suspect that she was charming them all somehow.
She has always been a charmer. He remembers with distaste the way that Naruto followed her around like a lost puppy. He frowns at the thought and quickly banishes it from his mind.
Sasuke narrows his eyes at the girl, who has laid down on her bedroll again and appears to be sleeping. Maybe the shackles she is wearing are partially defective, or something. A charm would certainly explain Kabuto's strange behavior towards the girl. Sasuke had never liked the man, but he has never seen him act like this before. He is openly defiant with Sasuke and obviously infatuated with the girl.
"Come here," Sasuke calls over to her, waking her up from her sleep.
She opens her eyes, but doesn't move to get up. She doesn't even look at him.
Rage threatens to boil over within Sasuke. He is not used to all this disobedience, and it is wearing his paper thin patience even thinner. Anger controlling him, he rises quickly, stalking over to the girl on the ground and crouching down before her.
"Look at me," he snaps, activating his Sharingan. When she doesn't respond, he grabs her chin, forcing her to look at him. He immediately captures her with his Sharingan, watching her green eyes glaze over as she falls under the powerful effects of his spell.
Nodding once he is satisfied, Sasuke releases her chin and walks back to his seat at the table. "Now. Come here."
He nearly breaks his pen when she still does not rise. He can see her struggling, resisting the command with all her might. What the hell is going on? The shackles are surely defective.
"Kai," he hears here mumble beneath her breath, obvious frustration in her voice.
His eyebrows raise involuntarily. So she knows how to escape his influence. A shame her magic is useless, he thinks as he watches her stand against her will. The steps she takes towards him are choppy and stilted, as though she is still fighting against the command with all of her might. If he was not so frustrated with her he might have been impressed at her will.
When she finally reaches the table, she stops, jaw clenched but eyes still glazed under the effect of his Sharingan.
"Good," he mocks, congratulating her like one would congratulate a child who has done a good deed. "Let me see your shackles."
The girl's arms are lifted instantly by the spell, coming to rest on the table in front of him. He inspects them carefully, looking for defects or weak spots. When he finds there is no physical malfunction, he checks the magical properties of the shackles.
They are in perfect working order.
Maybe she isn't charming Kabuto, the man is an idiot, after all. But she had definitely temporarily resisted Sasuke's spell - a feat that should be impossible, especially while wearing energy-shackles. He narrows his eyes up at her. She is still standing silently before him, eyes glazed as she stares past him at the wall.
Sasuke scoffs, releasing her from his spell. She stands in front of him for a moment, obvious confusion in her eyes as the spell wears off and she finds herself in a different place. Realization dawns on her, and she grits her teeth. Sasuke almost thinks she will say something, but she doesn't. Instead she turns and limps awkwardly back to her bedroll, laying down immediately with her back towards him.
Sakura
I wake up drowning, gasping for air.
I sit up, wincing at the pain it causes me just to perform that small task. My lungs feel full of fluid, and I can't stop coughing. Violently.
This is it, I think to myself, barely able to form coherent thought as whatever I am coughing up splashes all over my hands and abdomen. It is warm and sticky and dark and I am sure that it is blood. I wish Kabuto was here. He would help me. My eyes listlessly drift over to where Sasuke is sleeping and panic wells within me. He is stirring now, sitting up, and I can only imagine what he's going to do to me. He hasn't been particularly helpful thus far.
That's when I see it, the elixir I am supposed to take before bed, the one Kabuto always gave me. Sasuke didn't give it to me before nightfall. Of course he didn't, why would he? I shudder as I feel a particularly large clot come flying from my mouth and land directly on my arm. In the darkness of night, it is a shiny black splotch against my ashen skin. I focus my eyes on it, staring at it like it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, I am fixated on it.
I am nearly startled to death when I feel a large hand come down on my shoulder, hard. I tear my eyes from the clot on my arm, looking up to see Sasuke crouched down beside me, the vial of medicine he should have given me hours ago in his hand. His eyes are also fixed on the blood on my arm, though it is impossible to tell what he is thinking. The combination of his stoic features and the low-lighting inside the tent make his face completely unreadable.
I reach out to take the little bottle from him, and it instantly slips from my weak and bloodied fingers. I let out a frustrated moan as my coughing doesn't cease. My vision is blacking around the edges from my near convulsions and blood loss. I attempt to pick the bottle back up, but find that Sasuke has beaten me to it, and is now uncorking the little stopper from the bottle's mouth.
Without thinking, without reason, I reach out with the last of my strength and clamp my bloody fingers around Sasuke's wrist, desperate for human touch in what I am afraid are my last moments. For a second, barely an instant, when I look into Sasuke's black eyes, he isn't my torturer, he isn't my almost-murder - for an undetermined moment he is my friend again.
It might be two seconds and it might be forever, my overworked and overtired brain has no semblance of time. I gaze at him unashamedly, I am lost and confused and the world has started spinning around me in dizzying and erratic circles. "...Sasuke-kun?" I ask dazedly, barely sure of the word as it leaves my mouth. It feels both familiar and foreign to me. I see us on the edge of the creek, Sasuke reaching his hand towards me to help me out of the water. Just as I grab onto him, he rips his wrist away from my hand and stares at me like I burned him. We are back in his tent and he is not my friend. He looks at me with shock in his eyes, like he has never seen me before in his life. A moment passes before he seemingly shakes himself from his reverie, shoving the bottle in his hand up to my blood-soaked mouth.
I force myself to only take a sip, vaguely remembering Kabuto telling me never to drink too much of it, since it is dangerous in large quantities. I nearly cough the elixir right back out, but somehow manage to swallow it down without too much of a struggle. I attempt to slow my breathing, hoping the medicine works as quickly as it usually does. I am vaguely aware of Sasuke still crouched at my side, but I don't want to look at him. I am too afraid of what I will see on his face when he looks at me. I don't believe I have it in me to stomach his contempt at this moment.
As the coughing fit subsides completely, I lower myself slowly back onto my elbows, still breathing deeply and slowly. I am absolutely covered in blood and probably mucus as well. I feel disgusting. If I was still with Kabuto, he would help me get cleaned up. I doubt Sasuke will offer me the same services, I think with a heated glance in his direction. He is still crouching at my side, watching me with empty eyes.
"Do you need any of these other elixirs?" he surprises me by speaking.
I stare dumbly at him for a moment before shaking out of my stupor, indicating the red elixir on the table. It is for pain, and now that I have finished coughing, I am able to focus on my agony again. It is slightly more tolerable than it was last week, but it is still there, and still enough to cripple me. I wipe my bloody hand on the side of my shift and reach to take the vial from him. I will not let him spoon feed me this time.
I take a careful sip of the red liquid, pulling it from my lips before I can drink too much. It is easy to get carried away with pain relieving potions, and I don't want to become tolerant to them. Heavens know I won't survive this without them.
"Come on," Sasuke says, a hint of exasperation in his voice as he stands.
I don't answer him, but I quirk an eyebrow in his direction as I shakily get to my feet. Where the hell would we be going?
As though sensing my confusion, he casts an indifferent glance back at me, making a point to look at my blood-soaked shift. "We're going down to the stream."
I try to contain my surprise as I follow him out of the tent, still saying nothing to him. Is he actually going to let me get cleaned up? I wasn't expecting this. I am almost distrustful of the gesture as it seems so out of character for him. Again, I'm reminded of his childhood self - he was always helping me clean the mud off of my arms and legs before returning to the castle. My mother hated when I came home dirty. This behavior wouldn't have surprised me coming from twelve-year old Sasuke.
But he is not twelve-year old Sasuke. He is fully grown and he has done me unspeakable wrongs and I do not trust him in the slightest. Having come to this conclusion, I stop behind him, letting him continue to walk in front of me. After he continues on for a couple more feet, he seems to realize I am no longer trailing behind him and he turns to look at me. I have folded my arms and am doing my best to look unafraid. I am not sure if I am succeeding.
"Well, do you want to clean yourself off or not?" Sasuke snaps at me after a moment of staring.
I do want to wash off but...should I trust him? I reason that if he wanted to kill me, he could just do it in his tent. It's not like he would have to lead me off into the woods to do anything to me. I am no safer in his tent than I will be at the stream. I drop my arms to my sides as my resolve wavers. I really do need to get this blood cleaned off of me, the metallic smell is burning my nose and it is uncomfortably sticky against my skin.
"Gods, come on," Sasuke fumes, taking the few steps necessary to get to me and yanking me forward by my arm.
An embarrassing yelp leaves my mouth as a sharp stab of pain shoots through my arm at the harsh contact. He immediately lets go of me, and I wonder if he let go because he was hurting me or because he is too disgusted to touch me. I almost laugh at myself for the thought. As if the man who nearly killed me without remorse would really worry about tugging on my arm too hard.
I see my blood on his fingers as his hand falls to his side.
Sasuke
Sasuke goes to bed shortly after it gets dark outside. He eyes the potions sitting on his table, and briefly considers whether he should wake the girl to give her the blue one, like Kabuto had said. He shoots a glance over at the girl on the bedroll, seeing that she is still in a deep sleep, hands tucked under her head like a child. She looks so childish, in fact, that if Sasuke didn't know her to be the same age as him, he would have thought she was much younger. Her tear-streaked face and tangled hair didn't help her case.
She seems to be resting comfortably, so Sasuke decides she will do fine without the potion. It's not like he's going to go to her side and wake her up, after all. If she had wanted the medicine, she would have stayed awake to receive it. She will make do without it until the morning.
Sasuke took care to push his bed roll a little to the left before laying down, ensuring that it was as far away as possible from hers. There was room for an entire bedroll and then some between them. Not completely satisfied but happy enough, Sasuke lays down and turns away from her, falling asleep into a fit of unpleasant dreams.
He is woken some time later by violent coughing.
Still groggy from sleep and not fully remembering his situation, Sasuke looks around his tent hurriedly, attempting to identify the sound of the ridiculous noise. His eyes immediately land on the girl in the corner, hunched over in a sitting position and apparently choking on something.
Rolling his eyes at the annoyance, Sasuke stands from his bedroll and stretches, grabbing the blue medication from the table and walking over to her. She doesn't seem to notice him. In fact, she is staring at her arm distantly, occasionally coughing with a wet, gurgling noise. He grimaces at the sound of it.
He crouches down beside her, finally close enough to see her.
She is covered in blood, he now sees.
It is everywhere. It drips down her chin like she is a vampire, it coats her hands like she has dipped them in a bucket of the red liquid. The front of her shift is nearly saturated with it. And yet she is still staring starry-eyed at a large blood clot that has landed on her skinny arm.
He slams his hand down on her shoulder a little forcefully to get her attention, and she jumps beneath his touch. He hands her the bottle, which she immediately reaches for... and then proceeds to drop from her slippery, blood covered fingers. She groans in defeat and sways a little where she sits, face growing paler by the moment. Not even the dark can hide it from Sasuke's keen eyes, he can tell she is near to passing out.
Frustrated beyond belief, Sasuke snatches up the little bottle and unstoppers it. The girl is clearly unable to do anything useful herself.
He nearly jumps when her sticky, wet fingers lock onto his wrist with surprising strength. She is looking at him now, she has locked eyes with him, and her face is more expressive than he has ever seen it. She looks lost and exhausted and delirious at the same time. Her eyes are begging with him, pleading with him, and he has no idea what it is she is asking for. They are full of tears and agony and wonder and something else he can't quite put his finger on, but it is there and it reminds him of spring days and echoing laughter.
"...Sasuke-kun?" she asks deliriously, looking at him like she can see through him, like he hung the stars.
Horrified, he rips his arm away from the girl, jerking with unnecessary strength to get out of her grip. He stares at her for a moment, heart thudding strangely in his chest, contemplating leaving her alone in his tent to bleed to death before his sense returns to him and he presses the bottle to her blood-red lips. He is careful not to touch her.
He watches her swallow some of the liquid, pulling her head back slightly to indicate she is done. Her eyes are closed and she is breathing deeply, clearly fighting to keep her coughing in check. At least she isn't looking at him anymore with her ridiculously green fucking eyes.
She leans back onto her elbows, coated in enough blood to look as though she has been stabbed to death. He glances back at the table, noting the other potions sitting on the edge. "Do you need any of these other elixirs?" he asks, not liking the idea of being woken up by another fit of something.
She seems surprised by his question, but after a moment, she points to the red elixir on the table behind him. He moves to grab it, watching her wipe her bloody hand off on the side of her ruined shift before she reaches to take it from him.
She takes a tiny sip from the bottle, seeming to consider drinking more before she pulls the bottle from her lips.
Sasuke appraises her warily, frustration bubbling just beneath the surface. She looks disgusting. She is covered in blood. It runs down her forearms in ruby rivulets, and he doubts she even knows how much of it is in her hair. Her dress is soaked with it, as well. He supposes he'll have to take her to the stream and let her rinse herself off.
"Come on," he attempts to snap, but it comes out more like an irritated sigh. He stands by her side, motioning for her to follow him out of the tent.
She lifts one thin, pink eyebrow up as she unsteadily gets to her feet, nearly falling twice in the process. He is surprised she is even doing as he asks.
"We're going down to the stream," he explains, looking at her filthy dress and face.
He leaves the tent, and she follows, somewhat surprisingly. Unsurprisingly, she stops some feet behind him, as he hears her stop moving. He turns to see her frozen in place, eyeing him warily. Her arms are folded across her chest and he supposes that she thinks she looks tough.
She does not.
She looks small.
"Well, do you want to clean yourself off or not?" he snaps, patience wearing thin. He doesn't have all night to stand and wait on the princess to make up her mind.
She doesn't answer him, she just continues to stare. Her arms finally drop to her sides, but she is still not moving. He is growing more frustrated with her by the second. He is doing her a favor, that he by no means has to do, and yet she stands there, wasting his time.
"Gods, come on," he finally loses his temper, striding forward to pull her by her arm.
The second he touches her and applies pressure, she cries out in pain, blushing furiously as she looks away from him. He is not sure if she is angry or embarrassed, but he lets her go quickly without thinking. He doesn't want to be touching her. He motions in front of himself, gesturing for her to go in front of him.
It is chillier tonight than it has been, Sasuke notes, watching the girl shudder lightly in her thin garment. Her lack of body fat is likely causing her to be more affected by the slight chill, he reasons. He is annoyed by it.
The whole concept of her is annoying to him. If it weren't for her, he wouldn't be up in the middle of the night, walking the quarter mile to the stream. If it weren't for her, he probably wouldn't feel like throwing up right now.
He narrows his eyes at her back in front of him, wondering how the fuck she can be so unimposing. He stands at least eight inches taller than her, and her frame is so slight, it looks as though she could be blown away by a strong gust of summer wind.
Pathetic, really, he thinks to himself.
They reach the river after several minutes of walking, thanks to the girl's slow pace, and he eyes her as she looks down at the mess on her clothes skeptically. Casting a way glance over her shoulder at him, she surprises him by stepping into the water, dress and all, slowly wading out to the center where she is submerged up to her shoulders. Her shift billows with the water's current.
The moonlight bounces off of the water onto her face, making her skin appear even more translucent than it is. She looks borderline angelic, and Sasuke hates it. He scoffs to himself in the dark. It's a ridiculous thought, really, no royalty from Konoha is anything even remotely angelic. She is more likely a demon in disguise, a wolf in sheep's clothing.
After about two minutes in what Sasuke suspects is very cold water, the girl comes back to the bank slowly, clearly struggling with her weak body. Sasuke does not help her.
Though it is dark, he can still see how the thin, wet material of the girl's dress is clinging to her slim form. He notes the curve of her hips and the swell of tight, round breasts - he hadn't really noticed anything of the sort before. He averts his gaze from pert, pink nipples to look her in the face. She is essentially bare before him, and she stares at him hotly as if to say she is not afraid of him.
She really should be, he thinks. He has the passing thought that she is braver than she looks.
Her teeth are chattering almost violently as she stalks past him, shaky in her steps. Her fists are clenched at her sides either because she is angry or because she is cold. Her hair hangs in long, wet strands that fall to her narrow waist.
The walk back to the tent is much quicker than the walk to the river. He reasons that she is probably eager to get back to the relative warmth of her thin blanket and bedroll. She pushes the tent flap to the side in a hurry, nearly stumbling over her own feet in her hurry to sit down in her corner. She immediately pulls her ragged, moth-eaten blanket around her shoulders, shaking from head to toe.
Her lips have gone blue and she has gone back to averting her eyes from him. He watches her eye the potions on the table, before she stands with the blanket still firmly clasped around her. She takes one sip of the red potion, pauses, then takes a second, longer drink before teetering back to bed, laying down with her back to Sasuke.
He turns his back to her as well.
He dreams of a creek.
Sakura
The water is freezing.
It makes me ache in a way I can barely stand, setting my teeth on edge and tensing my already sore muscles. Fighting through the pain, I do my best to scrub the drying blood from my arms, face, and dress as quickly as I can, not wanting to spend an extra second in the frigid waters.
I see Sasuke watching me from the treeline, and force myself to feel angry instead of embarrassed. I am clothed, but barely, and the last pair of eyes I want on me are Uchiha Sasuke's. I am frailer than I have ever been, and I cringe when I think of how I must look.
He is probably gloating. The brief thought of him getting off on my suffering passes through my mind, and I shudder.
The slow current of the water is nearly enough to drag me from my feet. I notice Sasuke's black eyes on me as I wade out of the water, and I meet his gaze head on with as much spite as I can muster.
I let my anger and my freezing cold body spur me on towards the tent, not looking back as I storm past Sasuke as boldly as I can. All I want now is to get back to my bedroll and at least make some attempt to get warm. I know that jumping into the water with my shift on wasn't the best idea...I know that now I will sleep in wet clothes. But the dress had to be cleaned of the blood anyway, and besides, I wasn't getting naked in front of Sasuke.
As we enter the tent, I immediately dive into my corner, wrapping the dirty, overused blanket they gave me around my shaking shoulders. It does little to warm me.
I eye the pain potion on the table, deciding if I will take more, before the ache in my joints forced me to stand and retrieve the red liquid from the table. I take a sip, then another, and stop myself before I get carried away. I return myself to bed and lay down, careful not to look at Sasuke as I do.
I fall asleep thinking of home.
AN: oh hai