Chapter 2:
It took a while for Sakura to dig herself back out a second time. Firstly it was a tighter squeeze with Sasoris vessel taking up much needed room but the girl was also dangerously low on chakra and more injured than previously. When she finally managed to move the last boulder and feel the fresh air on her face it was like heaven. The cool air entered her lungs with blessed relief and she crawled down the pile of rubble like a lizard.
Late afternoon light shone down into the cavern and Sakura couldn't help fretting over how late it was. Was Naruto and Kakashi okay? What happened with that other akatsuki? With a grunt she shifted as a rock under her hand gave way and she began to roll down the pile of rubble. With a yelp she landed at the bottom in a heap. Groaning, the pinkette sat up and began to take stock of her injuries. Broken ribs for certain, broken ankle, various cuts and a whole mess if bruises. It wasn't optimal, especially with her chakra so low but it could have been worse. Way worse.
A violent shiver racked her frame at the thought of the deranged man's strings crawling along her skin and she subconsciously tried to brush off the phantom feeling. That was an experience she never wanted to have again.
All at once she felt trapped, the poisonous cable wrapped around her body in a suffocating grip. She couldn't breath. She looked at the blood still on her arm and let out a shakey breath. No she was here now, alive.
Suddenly she began to giggle and then it turned into a full blown laugh because she did it! She was free and clear and had killed someone no one would ever have thought she could beat. His blood was literally on her hands. Take that everyone, Sakura Haruno wasn't a weakling anymore! She was a true shinobi now, it was such a rush.
The laughter soon turned to tears and she was sobbing. Everything suddenly hurt, emotionally, physicaly, and hell spiritually. She cried for all the terror she felt and the emense happiness she felt from his death. She had been so scared. For a moment it had seemed all was lost but here she was.
It was very un-shinobi like but no one was around, no one would know her weakness. It was okay to let it out now.
"It's over." Sakura whispered to herself outloud, feeling a bit of weight release from her chest just by putting that out into the world. "It's over."
lifting her hands up, Sakura slapped her face a few times and dried her eyes. Now that the small melt down was over it was time to get moving. Grabbing a nearby small piece if wood, there was enough of it scattered about the make shift arena, the girl used it as a splint for her ankle along with some bandages from her pouch. She would have to get someone to bind her ribs when she found her team. The cuts were irritated but non fatal, they would scar without the use of her chakra but she needed what she could to get out of here.
Unsatisfied with her work but unable to do much else, the kunoichi gingerly got up and limped her way out of the cave and into the forest.
The sun was dipping below the horizon as the young kunoichi trekked through the unknown wilderness. She wasn't a very good sensor but she could follow the path of destruction easily enough. craters from the mad bomber led in an easy to follow direction along the river. Silently she prayed that her boys were okay before chastising herself.
Of course they were okay, it was Naruto and Kakashi. They probably smashed that punk to jelly once they finally knocked him off his high horse, er... bird.
As Sakura moved, she became both more tired and more alert, paranoia making it known as the darkness crept in. There was no sound of animals, all of them long sense fleeing from the battles that had taken place. The quiet was unnerving. Her ankle was throbbing and the girl cursed the akatsuki for this whole problem.
Her mind wandered to Lady Chiyo and she wondered where the old bat was. Had she just... assumed the girl was dead and taken off after Gaara like the others had? Something about that stung. A mild twinge of annoyance and self doubt. She couldn't blame anyone for thinking she hadn't survived the massive earth tsunami, hell she still barely believed it herself.
Sakura was distinctly ignoring the events that came after with all the stubbornness she was known for.
Finally it was pitch black in the forest to her right, the moon only providing minimal light to guide the way. Then in the distance she felt a fuzzy spark of chakra. It was faint but it was something, all the doubt of her going in the right direction vanished. It wad about damn time. Her pace quickened as fast as she could with her injuries. Pushing through the pain she ran, the chakra signature she picked up came closer and with great relief she realized it was Naruto's.
A thought brielfy flashed through her mind asking how the hell he still had so much chakra after the fight. She was certain he was going to blather on about how heroic he was when he finally got to talk to her. The idea of that would usual annoy her but in this instance it made her feel at home.
When she burst into the clearing that the chakra signature provided she did not expect a small camp with Naruto staring at her in shock like he was seeing a ghost and Kakashi, weapon in hand and on gaurd.
Breathing heavily from her run she leaned against a tree and tried to steady her heart.
"S-Sakura?" Naruto asked, just barely above a whisper. "What- I mean, how are you here?"
She scowled at him, some teammate. "What, did you not even come to look for me?"
"Well I-" Naruto tried to defend himself but was cut off by Kakashi stepping forward.
"That's not Sakura, Naruto." His voice low and dangerous.
The girl gaped at him. This was not what she had been expecting at all upon her return. She had been expecting to be tackled to the ground, possibly pat on the head and then be able to tell people what happened not... this!
"The hell do you mean it's not me?" Sakura yelled before she thought about it, indignation and hurt over her teammates treatment loosening her tounge.
"Lady Chiyo told us that Sakura died killing that Akatuski member." The copy ninjas stiff voice came from the other side of the clearing. Naruto was now staring at her wide eyed but she could see anger starting to build there.
"Well I didn't die. I'm here, and you would have known that if either of you came looking for me!" She screamed back at him, hurt physically and emotionally. Naruto was now looking between the two of them, unsure who to trust. Why was this such an issue? They both should know her chakra signature, she wasn't that depleted anymore.
"Prove it." He said simply and she just shook her head at him before looking down at her tattered form and huffed. She didn't want to waste too much chakra but maybe if she passed out from chakra depletion they'd finally realize what's in front of them.
With a sigh she called up her chakra which was strangely sluggish to respond. As if it was waking up from a nap and only begrudingly allowing its use once it saw her purpose. Her scowl deeped but she set to restoring her shattered ribs which made breathing a whole lot easier. She mended the cuts enough so that they would shut but still scar. Finally she reached down and healed her swollen ankle. Her chakra was spent and she crashed the ground her back falling against the tree behind her. Her bleary eyes focused ahead of her to realize Naruto was standing right in front of her his eyes wild.
"Sakura?" His voice broke as he said her name and she couldn't even bring herself to speak she just nodded.
The move was so sudden she hadn't been prepared for it when Naruto scooped her up in a bone crushing hug. She gasped, arms stuck at her sides as her blonde teammate cried into her shoulder. He was talking but she could barely discern the words. She looked passed him to Kakashi who still seemed tense but was no longer visibly on gaurd.
"-Thought I lost you too, and I was so angry!" Naruto was babbling incoherently and she reached up and patted him on the back. She didn't know what he was talking about but Sakura realized he genuinely thought she was dead.
Compassion over ruled the need to smack him for being so clingy, he had thought she was gone. For that she could allow him this closeness.
"Hey it's alright..." She tried, her voice soft. Truthfully she didn't have the strength to go further, it wad a miracle she hadn't fainted to chakra exhaustion. She turned to Kakashi and asked, "What happened?"
After a long moment of sustained eye contact the man relented. He leaned back and put his kunai away. She hadn't even realized he'd taken one out.
"We'll tell you in the morning, Sakura. You look like death warmed over." The man teased and she deadpanned.
"That's not funny sensei." But he wasn't wrong. She was exhausted and felt like she could sleep for a week.
"Yeah, get some sleep!" Naruto chipped finally letting her go and bounding to the fire. "You can take my bag tonight, I'll make sure no one touches you!"
Normally that would sour her attitude but she was too drained to put up a fight. It was better than the hard ground and her teammates wouldn't let anything happen to her. As she got up and walked to the sleeping bag she collapsed upon it without grace. The last thing she heard before the darkness took her was Kakashi's voice.
"I'll expect a full report in the morning Sakura." She could only hum her agreement and give a slight nod before she was out.
Sakura was having a dream, a dream of being alone.
Feeling trapped in her own skin and unable to cry out to anyone, the girl screamed internally. Flashes of her previous fight flitted through her mind one after another like a sideshow. Her fear, her desperation, her need to win clogged her mind and her senses. She was suffocating. She needed to get out of there... and then she was. The scene shifted and her conciousness sunk back into the darkness.
When she began to dream again she was still alone. Desperately she searched for someone but she couldn't remember who she was looking for. Through the haze and the fog she looked and looked. She knew she was moving, sleep walking maybe, but that didn't deter her mind from wondering who she was looking for. It was important that she find them though, like a desperate need. She didn't want to be alone anymore.
The scene changed she was digging now, shifting rock and dirt. Her sight was going in and out of focus as she did it. Someone was pulling her in, pulling her closer despite her half aware state. She was surprised how she was able to do anything half asleep, or was she still dreaming? She could feel the sharp stones under her hands and the dirt beneath her nails. Her wounds throbbed with pain that somehow didn't snap her to wakefulness. No, it was like a film was over her mind, wieghing her down. The edges of her vision were fuzzy, signifying a dream, but it felt so real. Just as she shifted the last rock her vision left her back to the void.
Sakura was moving again, where to she didn't know but she moved with purpose. Briefly she wondered when she'd wake up. It felt like forever that she'd been in this state between dreams and wakefulness.
Now she was falling, down, down deep into the earth. Or was she in the sky falling to the earth? It didn't matter she really, would someone catch her? She hoped so, silently she called out for her teammates but no sound left her. Fear filled her and she tried again and again, making no noise as she came every close to the end of her free fall. On her last attempt she cried as loud as she could and she was able to faintly hear her voice calling out from the darkness.
Then... the darkness called back.
Sakura.
Sakura!
"Hey, wake up!"
Sakura snapped awake and dove away from the offending voice. She was crouched low, jarring her ankle, when she realized Naruto was staring at her dumbfounded. The girl noticed she was breathing heavily and shuddered away the uncomfortable feeling of her dream.
"What the heck was that? You were crying out in your sleep." Naruto explained the reason for her sudden awakening, a frown marring his usually smiling face.
"It's nothing." She said a little too quickly, trying to get her breathing under control. Her eyes flickered to Kakashi who was contentedly reading his book, but upon feeling her eyes on him he looked up and gave her a knowing look. He was perhaps one of the few who probably really did understand.
Sakura had been prone to nightmares in the past but had since grown out of them, she usually didn't sleep deeply enough to dream. Thinking of her nightly excursion in her mind made her shudder slightly before shaking it off. Nothing was weird about it.
It was just a stupid dream afterall.
A/N: Did you think this was a one shot? It's not. And to my reviewer, send me the link to the fic I would love to read it. I've read alot of SasoSaku fics but I don't know that I have read one with the same premise as mine, at least not yet anyway. Though it could be hard to tell where I'm going from the first chapter.