Chapter 7
The sun began to set, signaling the end of a day. After the excitement of the ambush, the entourage easily decided to rest. More skirmishes were possible, and proceeding without vision would be suicide. Therefore, they set up camp in a little clearing off the path, their sleeping bags providing a thin barrier against the hard forest floor.
Naruto fell asleep the minute his sleeping bag was unraveled, his mouth left open to emit an obnoxious snoring that most likely scared off any nearby wildlife.
Therefore, Sakura was left with the task to gather firewood, which she begrudgingly dragged herself off to do. Though her body ached to rest, the task allowed her a bit of alone time with herself, enjoying the silence as she scavenged for wood.
A fallen piece of bamboo caught her eye, half eaten. She paused, a wave of memories washing over her. Gently, she set down the firewood she had gathered, and picked up the broken branch.
Swiftly, she whipped the bamboo through the air like a katana, before pointing it forward at an imaginary enemy.
Hasao had familiarized her with the pain of its strike, having substituted katanas for these. Though there was no real danger, the ache was enough to serve as a physical deterrent from making the same mistake.
Her skin burned, the areas of impact seeming to heat up as they continued. However, she knew that if she thought about the pain for a minute, her formation would break and introduce another searing mark to her body.
Suddenly, as she pushed against the weight of her weapon, she heard a crack and felt one end of her makeshift sword shatter under force. At her surprise, Hasao forcefully reminded her of the ongoing battle with a jab to the rib, causing the girl to emit a cry of pain as she crumpled to the ground.
As she rubbed the offended area, Hasao scolded, "You must adapt. You should not give in, no matter how the situation changes. Changing your misfortune into a tool - you could have treated the broken bamboo as a stake or a spear. No matter what happens, never close your eyes and do not panic."
He tossed her another, unbroken stalk of bamboo. "Again."
The kunoichi felt resistance mid swing, hearing a 'smack' as her weapon made contact with a human arm. Blinking, she found herself staring into the eyes of her dark haired teammate, his hand keeping the weapon from hitting his face.
Even through the darkness, she could feel his onyx eyes piercing her being.
Knowing the pain, Sakura immediately dropped her weapon and rushed to grab the Uchiha's arm, apologizing profusely. "Kami, I didn't mean to do that - are you hurt?"
She inspected her teammate's wrist, eyebrows furrowed as she attempted to discern if there was a break, since the swing had connected with the thinly protected bones of his arm.
Sasuke didn't immediately pull away from her grasp, which Sakura took to mean that some pain was felt during contact.
"You were assigned a task, Sakura. What were you doing?"
Sakura waved away his question, focused on the slowly swelling joint. "Unravel your panties Uchiha, it's only been a couple of minutes."
After some prodding, Sakura sighed in relief. "It's not sprained or broken - just irritated. Here… hold still."
Dark eyes watched as the girl's eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. To his alarm, her hands began to glow a faint green, and he instinctively yanked his hand back. His own eyebrows knotted as he scrutinized his teammate with alarm, trying to understand what she was trying to pull.
Concentration broken, the glowing stopped, and Sakura glared up at her teammate. "Look, I'm trying to fix this, ok? Do you want sore wrists tomorrow or not?"
Holding his hand away, Sasuke snapped, "This was your fault in the first place!"
"Then let me fix it," Sakura hissed.
After a minute of sustained glares, Sakura sighed and held out her hand in request. "The nurses taught me a thing or two... since they see me a lot at the hospital. Please?"
Still wary, Sasuke slowly lowered his wrist into her open palm. Her lashes lowered, gently cupping her other hand on top of his joint. Once again, her hands began to glow a faint green, and a creeping warmth began to envelop his injury.
Suddenly, he recognized what this was. Healing ninjutsu.
He had experienced this often in the hospital. With the other nurses, it had felt intrusive, their foreign chakra needling into his body with a similar but disconcerting warmth that left him feeling almost nauseous.
Sakura's, on the other hand, felt like a warm embrace, spreading an ambient heat throughout his joint that seemed to dissolve the pain.
He watched as the swelling began to subside, his wrist returning to its original state as if nothing had happened. As the glowing subsided, the warm slowly retracted back into her hands, leaving his wrist feeling cold, like a blanket was pulled off that exposed his skin to the bitter wind.
There was a stretch of silence as Sasuke gazed at his wrist, then at Sakura, intrigued. The girl had seemed so petite and naive. What else were those small hands capable of doing?
Sakura cleared her throat awkwardly. "You can… have it back now. I'm done."
The Uchiha realized he had kept the weight of his arm in her palms for too long, and snatched his hand back. "Go back to camp. We still don't have a campfire, since someone got distracted."
Suddenly reminded of the others, Sakura cursed and grabbed the firewood she had set down. She sized him up on last time, reassuring herself that there were no more injuries and gave him an apologetic smile. "No hard feelings, ne? Won't happen again."
Without waiting for a response, Sakura dashed away in the direction of the campsite, disappearing into the darkness.
Sasuke was left staring into the darkness, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to comprehend what had just happened.
This must be why anbu choose solo missions.
Ridiculous.
A/N: Since my finals finished, I was hit with fresh inspiration. I was going to stop at one upload, but I ended up posting three. Let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoyed the ride so far!