A.N.
To those of you that are reading this please not that there are two stories before this one. They are called Slowly Slipping Awayand Gravity both are found on my profile. The other two stories followed the manga as closely as I possibly could, but this part of the series is completely original and takes place 4 years after the war.
Thank you for reading!
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do NOT belong to me. Naruto belongs to Misashi Kishimoto.
Sayuri and any characters that have not and will not appear in the manga/or anime are completely original.
Reviews are welcomed and encouraged! Thank you!
Recovery
Sayuri awoke with a sharp gasp. Eyes shifting left to right trying to figure out where she was. She tried to sit herself up but stopped the moment she felt a shock run down her spine and to her muscles, making her arms buckle under her weight, taking her breath away from the strain.
"Don't try to sit up." Sayuri looked up trying to catch her breath as a young man shifted her back on her back.
"Young lady, you need your rest." She heard a much deeper voice chide, but couldn't get a good look at the owner. All she felt was a couple of hands pushing her down.
"Where is Sasuke?" Sayuri asked just as the one of the two placed a wet cloth over her forehead. The cold cloth soothing her headache.
"Sasuke?" the young man asked. At this moment she found that it was hard to concentrate. Her head was spinning.
"The…the man that was…with me." She breathed.
"He's next to you. On the other bed."
Lazily, Sayuri turned her head away from the man and found Sasuke sound asleep, a cloth on his forehead as well. She managed to smile before remembering one last detail. "Kukiko…the girl…"
"Kukiko is in the other room." The man answered.
Sayuri turned back to the young man, for a minute wondering why he seemed to talk about Kukiko with familiarity but decided to ignore it. "Is she ok?"
"She's still sleeping."
"Oh…ok…" Sayuri relaxed her tense body, eyes beginning to flutter close.
"Sleep." She heard the young man say.
XXX
Sayuri's screams brought the young man running into the room, turning on the lamp on the desk next to the door.
"Oh my god, what's wrong with her!?" Kukiko asked entering the room seconds after. Watching the young brunette toss in her bed, as if she was trying to get away from something.
"Sayuri!" she watched the young man on the other bed call out to his friend. He struggled to move but Kukiko was quickly at his side keeping him down.
"Tomohiro, do something!" she urged, while she laid the dark haired young man back on the bed.
"Don't touch her!" Sasuke warned, pushing the woman's hands off him. "Just help me get closer." The young man hesitated for a second, steps away from the crying Sayuri. He turned back to the Sasuke and helped him up, deciding that her friend would know how to calm her down better than he could.
Sasuke gritted his teeth all the way to the other bed, his body still hadn't gotten rid of the paralyzing agent. When they reached the bed, Tomohiro and Kukiko stepped back watching quietly as the brooding man gently took one of the girls hands.
"Sayuri, listen to me…" he struggled to keep her from pulling away. "It's a dream, your safe!" he said louder. "You're safe! Open your eyes." he tightened his grip on her hand as much as the pain allowed him to until her screams died down to whimpers, and finally to complete silence. "You're safe."
Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed. On the bed, Sayuri opened hers. The unfocused, bright orbs shifted around her.
"Sa-Sasuke?" She groaned. He let go of her hand and brought his to her forehead.
"Her fever's back."
"I'll go get more cold water." Kukiko said as she ran out of the room.
Tomohiro approached the two ninja, watching Sasuke carefully. "Will you be ok, sitting here?"
"The pain has lessened." Sasuke replied, taking a deep breath. "Thank you, for helping us."
"It's the least I could do. You were the ones that saved Kukiko."
Just then the young woman entered the room, setting the bowl of cold water on the small desk next to Sayuri's bed. She quickly dipped a cloth into the water and rung it out a few times before setting it across Sayuri's forehead. Kukiko drew her hands to her chest and stared down at the young woman in worry.
"Will she be ok?" she asked, turning her honey colored eyes to Sasuke.
"She will be." He replied taking Sayuri's hand in his again.
"Tomo…" the young man turned to the brunette. "Maybe we should bring the beds closer, so that he can lay down."
With a nod, Tomohiro stood up and began to push the twin sized bed closer to Sayuri's. Once they were close enough they helped Sasuke back on it. The Uchiha lay beside the sleeping brunette, keeping watch of her as the other two turned off the lamp and stepped out of the room. Stretching his arm out, he grasped her hand in his. Running his thumb under her palm, he felt the small callouses that had formed from her training.
"Sasuke…" she murmured in her sleep.
The Uchiha shushed her intertwining his fingers with hers. "You're going to be all right." He watched her eyes shift under her eyelids. Mismatched eyes shifted to their intertwined hands. "Thank you." He whispered into the night, letting himself relax for a few more hours of some much needed sleep.
XXX
"You're up!" Kukiko exclaimed, surprised to see Sasuke sitting on the bed, back against the headboard and staring down at Sayuri. He cast a glance at her, noticing the glasses of water in her hand.
Shyly the young woman stepped into the room, placing a glass down on the small desk next to Sayuri's bed and extending the other glass to him. When he didn't meet her gaze, she looked down at the girl in the bed, then saw their hands and smiled knowingly.
"You like her." She watched the young man curiously as his shoulders stiffened. "Does she like you?"
He pulled his hand out of Sayuri's grasp and looked at Kukiko. "Can I have the water?"
"Oh!" she quickly extended the glass back to him. Eyes the color of honey watching as he quickly downed the glass in one go, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. She smiled and offered him the second glass, which he took gladly and downed that one as well.
"Where is that man?" he asked eyes on the open door. He could barely make out a couch from where he was.
"He went out to get supplies for you, and to walk the doctor back to his home." Taking the empty glass from him, she sat on the edge of Sayuri's bed, watching as the young auburn haired woman slept, taking deep even breaths. "I didn't know that…I didn't think that he would…"
Sasuke sat still watching the woman in front of him quiver. A few seconds passed before she shook her head.
"She must be really strong, to have dragged us both to safety." She smiled.
"She is." He turned to Sayuri, who had turned her head to him in her sleep. "She's one of the strongest people I know."
"If you love her, you should tell her." He heard the woman point out, to which he turned and narrowed his eyes at her, but she didn't seem unnerved by it. In fact, she smiled at him.
"What makes you think that I love her?"
Kukiko giggled. "Well, if you don't then why do you keep holding her hand like she's going to disappear at any moment?"
Wide eyed he looked down at his hand and found the limb intertwined with Sayuri's smaller one. Cursing himself he pulled back and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. This girl had sharp eyes.
"I hope she returns your feelings."
Sasuke scoffed. "She won't." At her surprised look he shook his head and chose to stare out the window, watching the snow fall.
XXX
The afternoon the sunlight was the first thing she saw when her eyes fluttered open. Slowly she pushed herself up, feeling slight discomfort in the movement but not overall painful. The cloth on her head fell unto her lap, but she paid no mind to it. Instead her eyes were on the window. The snow had piled up considerably, and she could see the forest.
She bit her lip at the sight of the woods and took a shaky breath, tearing her eyes away from them. When she was finally able to breathe at a steady pace, she decided to get a better look at the room. That was when she noticed the empty bed beside her.
"Where am I?" she asked herself, swinging her legs off the bed and onto the cold hardwood floor. She moved to stand but felt the room tilt, so she took hold of the headboard to steady herself.
The door opened and a tall blonde haired man froze, silver eyes on her.
"Who are you?" Sayuri asked, hand on the headboard tightening, causing it to crack. The young man's eyes flickered to the crack on the head board then back to her. Slowly he raised his arms in a pacifying manner.
"Calm down, Sayuri…I'm Tomohiro-"
"How do you know my name!?" she all but growled, eyes scanning the room for something she could use to defend herself. Lamp? No, too far. The bed would have to do. She thought trying to figure out how much force she'd have to put into the bed to push it at him.
"Sasuke told me."
At the mention of the Uchiha's name her grip on the piece of furniture loosened. "Sasuke? You know Sasuke, where is he?"
"I'm right here." She heard him say as Tomohiro stepped aside to let him into the room. "You shouldn't destroy his furniture. This is his home after all."
Sayuri turned to the headboard and pulled away slowly. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright." Tomohiro laughed nervously. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better. The doctor wasn't sure if your fever would break today, but hey, you seem to be doing just fine."
Sayuri shifted her eyes to Sasuke in a questioning look.
"Tomohiro found us by the trail. He and the doctor helped bring us here."
"Here?" Sayuri echoed, then turned to Tomohiro. "Where's here?"
The blonde man scratched the back of his head. "We're not inside the town. If any of the Grass ninja saw me helping you, I'd be dead. So I brought you to this cabin. It's about a mile away from town." He gave them an apologetic look. "Sorry about that, it's just they're not really welcoming of ninja that are not part of their village, and since our town is within their borders, helping you would mean trouble for me."
"So why are you helping us?" Sayuri started, becoming defensive all over again.
"Kukiko." He shrugged.
"You know her?" Sayuri loosened up once more, eyes wide and worried. "Is she ok?"
Tomohiro chuckled. "You asked me that last night, although you were delirious. Yes, she's been helping me take care of both of you. She told me that she was kidnapped by a bald man."
Both ninja visibly tensed. "That's correct." Sasuke answered and slowly made his way back to his bed, sitting down when he reached it.
"I had heard about them…The murdered girls." Sasuke turned to the blonde, watching as his gaze went down to the floor, fists tightening at his sides. "Kukiko could have been one of them, but you stopped them. So, thank you!" they both were surprised at the man's low bow to them.
Sharing a look, the two ninja smiled. "It's nothing, really." Sayuri was the first to speak. "We're just glad she's safe."
Tomohiro straightened up, wiping tears from his face. "She is! Listen, I can't stay here long, I went to get some supplies from the town and people saw me. If I stay here too long, they will come looking for me. I bought enough to last three days, I'll-"
"Three days is more than what we'll need." Sasuke interrupted. "To be honest we probably won't stay here past tonight."
Tomohiro smiled and nodded. "All right then. Your clothes are on this desk." He pointed to the desk next to him and bowed again. "Take care then, and please use whatever you need." The two watched him exit the room, and shortly after heard him leave the small cabin.
"There's food in the kitchen. He said Kukiko made it for us for when you woke up." Sayuri looked to Sasuke who was already making his way to the door. He paused at it and looked over his shoulder mismatched eyes skimming her. "You might also want to get the sweater on the bed. To cover up."
Sayuri looked down at herself just then. She had been changed out of her clothes and put into a thin purple nightgown. She frowned, it wasn't very revealing but she did feel a bit cold. Pulling up the strap that had been hanging off her shoulder, she snatched the sweater and put it on, buttoning it up as she walked out of the room and into what looked like the living room.
"Here." She turned to her right where the kitchen was. Sasuke placed plate of fish and rice on the small round table.
Walking over she sat down and began to eat, casting glances at the Uchiha as he ate his food. He looked a bit paler than usual, and his shoulders were stiff. She also noticed that he did not wear a shirt. Finally, she saw the bandages wrapped around his abdomen, eyes lingering there.
"What?" he asked, raising a dark brow at her when she put her half eaten fish down.
"Don't…Don't do that again." She said, eyes not meeting his.
With a frown, Sasuke sat back. "Do what?"
"Put your life in danger like that."
"I was protecting you." He said slowly as if speaking to a child.
"That's the thing, I don't need protection!" she met his gaze. "I could have protected myself!"
Sasuke clenched his fist, eyes narrowing dangerously at her. Was she seriously going to start a fight right now. "Well it didn't really look like you could." He snapped.
Keeping her voice calm Sayuri replied carefully. "You don't understand. I could have. But then you went ahead and jumped in front of me."
"I'm not going to have this argument with you." Sasuke said, pushing his chair back. The fact that she was so calm while scolding him only made him angry. "I did what I had to do to protect you, my teammate. Besides you did a pretty good job of healing me, I don't see the problem."
Sayuri slammed her hands on the table. Sasuke sat back, a bit startled. That was definitely new. "And what do you think would have happened if I hadn't been able to!?"
"But you did." Now it was his turn to stay calm as the seething brunette glared at him.
Sayuri ran her hands through her hair. "YOU COULD HAVE DIED!" she balled her hands as they came down to her sides. "If my chakra had failed, you would have bled out! You would have died…" she didn't know if it was because she still felt tired, or if it was just her frustration, but she began to feel a lump form in her throat and her eyes water. "So don't do that again."
Watching her try to keep her shoulders from shaking, Sasuke's anger vanished. "Sayuri…" he started but the auburn haired Marihasha turned away and went back into the room. He looked down at their uneaten food, as the room began to change from a golden color to a red-orange. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he decided to go after her instead of just avoiding her. This time, things will be different, he was not going to run away from his feelings. He had promised himself that four years ago, and he had done a good job about it up until…He paused at the entrance, watching her sit at the edge of the bed, back to the window.
"Sayuri," he began again but she didn't turn to him. "I don't want to argue with you. We've done a lot of that in the past year, don't you think."
Sayuri tilted her head to him. "I-We…" she paused and looked away.
"I know already." He sighed and walked over to sit on the other edge, putting enough distance between them. "But we need to get along at least."
Sayuri closed her eyes and sighed. "I wasn't the one who decided not to, remember?" Her hands gripped the white bedsheets. "I wanted us to be friends, and you didn't want anything to do with me."
Sasuke looked away recalling the conversation they had the last time he had been in the village. "I feel differently now."
Sayuri made a sound that was between a laugh and a scoff. "Your emotional fluctuations are not endearing, Sasuke. But I'm tired of arguing. If you want to get along, I will try." She looked at the back of his head with a small frown. "I also don't want you to do something stupid, and what you did last night was incredibly idiotic."
"It wasn't as idiotic as Naruto blowing both of our arms off." He muttered under his breath.
Sayuri rolled her eyes. "If I recall correctly it was both of you that did that." She paused when he turned to her a smile on his lips and felt her chest tighten. "Your smile is nice." She found herself whispering and immediately regretted it.
"You've told me that before." He replied meeting her gaze, the flicker of a smile gone just as fast as it came.
The two sat straight, staring at the empty wall for a good minute. Memories of the past four years played out in their head. Of things that were said and done. Words that were carelessly thrown around. Words they didn't say and regretted.
Sayuri cleared her throat breaking the silence between the two. "How is your chakra? Does it still hurt to move?"
Still hung up on the past Sasuke shook his head. "I'm good, just stiff."
Looking down at her hands, Sayuri flexed her fingers. "My chakra is still a bit jumbled." She mused. "And my body is a bit sore."
"You overexerted yourself last night."
"It was either that or freeze to death." She shrugged.
He turned his head to her, watching as she stretched her arms over her head and arch her back as she did so. Tearing his eyes off of her he went back to staring at a fixed point on the wall. Now was not the time to be ogling at her.
"Do you think they'll come back?" he heard her ask. Turning to her again he watched her slide off the bed, the hem of the nightgown riding up as she did so, but it quickly fell to cover the white thigh it has exposed just a few moments ago.
"Maybe." He replied, watching as she padded over to the desk where their clothes laid. "They didn't get their last victim, but we killed one of them. It's hard to tell…" he trailed off when she let the sweater fall off her small shoulders.
She turned to him when he quieted and found him staring at her. His eyes reflecting something that she could not exactly name and upon closer inspection... "Sasuke? Your sharingan is activated…" she looked around. "Do you sense someone?"
What!? He scolded himself for losing control, and quickly deactivated his kekkei genkai. "It was nothing."
"Ok…" she said slowly turning back to the clothes on the desk. She plucked her suit up inspecting it for tares but found none. She then saw his black shirt, and moved to it. Lifting it up to eyelevel she saw the tear, upon further inspection she found it clean of blood. They washed our clothes, that was nice of them. She thought paying no more attention to the Uchiha. She put the top down, and her hand hovered over her own outfit again.
Watching her hover over her own clothes, he stood and walked over to her to get a better look of her face. "You want to go back." He stated. The way that her back stood ramrod straight, and the slight dip of her brows let him know exactly what she was thinking. He sighed. "It's too soon, you need more rest."
"What if they left something behind. What if Naoki went back!"
His calm eyes met her worried ones. "You pushed yourself too much last night, you need rest."
"Sasuke."
"He may not have come back."
"But what if he did!"
The two took to a staring contest. "We'd have to go back into the forest, will you be ok with that?"
Trying not to stiffen up she bit the inside of her cheek. "W-what makes you say that?"
"You're stuttering." At that she backed away from him. "And last night I also noticed you tensed up the further into the forest we went." She stood quietly for a moment, and Sasuke shifted his weight, eyeing her carefully. "Am I wrong?"
"It's not the forest I'm afraid that." She whispered. "It's what's in it."
He watched her turn back to the clothes on the desk. Something in him stirred, it was the same feeling he always got when he saw that something was bothering her and it bothered him, whether it had anything to do with him or not. When he was younger he'd snap at her, to get her out of it, granted back then he wasn't too sure about how he felt about her.
But now…He stopped his train of thought. There was no point in going there. What is done is done. But he still couldn't stop himself from placing his hand on her shoulder. "I won't let anything happen to you."
Sayuri looked up at him from under her eyelashes, pained expression on her face. "That's what I'm afraid of." She pulled away, picking up her clothes and heading to the restroom outside of the room.
Closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath he moved to start dressing himself as well.
XXX
"Shit." He watched Sayuri who crouched beside the body of the dead woman. She was blonde, again the trademark no face, Naoki had come back and he killed yet another woman. "It's the waitress from the first restaurant we went to."
The snow crunched under his weight as he moved to stand behind her, eyes on the body. "How do you know?"
"The uniform, and her…assets." She said pulling away, hands balled at her sides. "Damn it! We wasted too much time."
He watched her rub her temples, and mutter about how they should have been back sooner. She was trying to put on a front, but she wasn't fooling him. He knew her well enough to know that she was blaming herself for the woman's death. He also knew that there was nothing he could say to her to keep her from blaming herself.
"I'll let Kakashi know." He settled for stepping back and letting her have her moment in private.
A.N.
Thank you all for the lovely reviews. Please keep going I really appreciate your comments! Please let me know how I'm doing and until next time :)
