A/N: Hi guys, I have a poll on my two accounts, VulgarAssassin and Wickermayne on ffnet, please go and vote for which stories you want me to focus on. I'm going to pick one story from each account and really try and finish each of them, hopefully get a beta and everything. Wish me luck lol.
Sayuri followed him all the way to the training ground where they learned how to walk on trees. The pleasant night breeze ruffling the leaves gently every few moments. The only light out here was the bright moon, but that was more than enough for ninja.
Naruto ignored her the whole way there. She never really knew his frustration to be quiet like this and she waited for him to respond in any capacity. They stood under the moonlight for a few moments before he finally spoke.
"What is it? Come to yell at me?" he asked, his voice seeped in bitterness.
"No," Sayuri leaned back against a tree trunk, observing the profile of her teammate. His jaw set tight, shoulders slumped. "I don't think you were wrong in what you said."
"Somehow, I think you've got more to say," Naruto nearly snorted, finally turning to face Sayuri, his eyes almost glowing, filled with silent anger.
"Inari is only a child, and a civilian at that. What you said was not wrong, but he doesn't know any better."
"So?" the blonde snapped, running a hand through his hair. "We were his age, we used to be civilians, and we suffered a hell of a lot more."
Sayuri pushed off the tree and walked toward him now, using her height to glare down at him, though he did not flinch, "Suffering isn't a competition, Naruto."
He wilted a bit at the remark and let out a frustrated sigh, "I know that, I know…but it's not like I had any one to tell me any better. How to stop being childish. At least I could tell him that."
"So, you were trying to help him?" she asked softly.
Naruto did not answer her and instead turned around and walked away, stretching in the middle of the clearing.
"I won't be able to sleep," he said over his shoulder.
"And?" though she already knew the answer to her own question.
He faced her once more, his dour expression replaced with a cocky smirk, "Let's spar, yeah?"
Sayuri rolled her neck, working out the kinks. Her muscles still heavy from the tree-walking training they did earlier, "Aren't you tired?"
"Yeah, but I can't slack off and let that brat think he was right about me," Naruto grinned, shuffling on his feet in preparation to pounce.
Sayuri closed her eyes, enjoying the lick of air against her cheeks before to snapped them open and rushed at her teammate.
"Why, why would you do that?! Why would you protect me?!" Naruto's voice broke as he forced out the question. Sayuri felt her body growing cold and only the warmth of Naruto's embrace seemed to keep her grounded to the world.
Why indeed? She had no answer, no real one at least. Naruto was foolish, stupid, arrogant, barely an asset to the village. They were not friends; they were not even rivals. At best he was a thorn in her side.
Still, for some reason, she acknowledged him. He was always there. Annoying her, pushing her, challenging her.
Salty tears splashing against her face roused her from her thoughts. She never though Naruto might cry for her one day. If she were in better shape, she would have laughed.
"S-stop crying, idiot. You might make me think y-you care about me." It took effort to speak, her lips and mouth drier than she ever felt them, the words catching at the back of her throat.
"Why, why me? I never asked you to!" His arms curled around her tighter and his body shook as he cried.
"H-how should I know? I j-just did it…without thinking," Sayuri closed her eyes, her mind flashing with images of her brother, of the things she promised herself she would accomplish before she died, "I told myself I-I wouldn't die u-until I killed him…my brother…" she looked up at Naruto, his face twisted with anger, sadness, and fear…for her. Sayuri's hand moved by itself cupping against the skin of his cheek and leaving a ruby line in its wake as it slipped off almost instantly. "D-don't you dare die before you become H-ho—"
Before she fainted, she almost tasted it. That malignant chakra dousing the air, disgusting and vile against her skin. As her life slipped away, she begged God to at least spare Naruto from whatever that was.
"Bah, I knew I would find you here. I hope you weren't training! You're supposed to be resting, y'know?"
Sayuri let out an annoyed huff, not moving from her position resting on the grass, her arms tucked behind her head, watching clouds lazily pass by. "As if you would have sat in bed for days."
He snickered before walking over and flopping down next to her. His right hand played with the grass beneath them, and sometimes his pink would brush against her side. She idly thought she should feel uncomfortable with his nearness, but she supposed watching him cry over her made those sorts of feelings moot.
"You're right, but Sakura started yelling at me to find you," he yawned, rolling slightly toward her and tucking his hands underneath his head as a pillow. "Wake me up when you're ready to leave."
Sayuri hummed in agreement, enjoying a breeze that tickled the skin of her face.
She could smell Naruto's cheap shampoo too. He really was close to her.
"Listen," he mumbled, and she turned her head to look at him, his eyes closed, brow furrowed in thought, "I won't let it happen again, yeah?"
"What do you mean?"
"The brothers, Haku…won't need to protect me anymore."
Sayuri turned back to the clouds, they floated lazily and coaxed her eyelids to become heavy with sleep. "You're weaker than Sakura, suppose that's why they teamed the three of us together, so we could watch over your stupid ass."
"Bitch, I'll be saving you next time, just watch."
Sayuri swallowed her smile, letting her eyes close, the gentle breeze and puffs of air from Naruto settling her. "You'd better get strong then, Naruto."
"It's a promise," he whispered before his breaths slowed and Sayuri followed suit, the two of them falling asleep side by side, in that strange space of peace they carved out for each other.
A/N: Waiting over half a year to update and only making it a thousand words, just Vulgar things.