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!
Secret
"Are you sure we shouldn't go look for them?" Diachi asked Naruto as he helped Hajime walk. The blonde, himself carrying an injured Sakura.
"No, they're alright. Right now we need to find a place to stay." He mumbled watching Sakura who was too concentrated on healing her injured arm.
Hajime hissed when Diachi shifted his arm so he could hold his weight better. "Who the hell were they?"
"They're probably the same men from Suna." Said Diachi.
"Hey what about there?" Naruto exclaimed gesturing to an empty cabin. Hajime and Diachi blinked.
"I don't know…" Diachi, said uneasily, always the cautious one. "What if it's someone's home."
"If it were someone's they'd take better care of it." The pink haired medic pointed out. The boys once again looked at the old cabin, surrounded by weeds, one of the steps to the porch was broken, and had foliage growing on the walls. "I think that'll do."
"You heard her." Naruto grinned and hurried inside.
Hajime grunted while Diachi hurried them behind the blonde. Once inside, the brunette kicked the door closed and helped Hajime sit down. Behind him Naruto roamed the small cabin, and Sakura tended to her injured leg.
"Where are you going?"
Sakura looked up from her leg to the other two young men. Diachi had his hand on the door and Hajime looked at the brunette in confusion.
"To get some wood…for the chimney."
Both Hajime and Sakura turned to the dirtied chimney, the cold of the room finally setting in, and nodded, the floor whining underneath Diachi's weight.
"It looks like no one's been here in a while." Naruto said as he came around the corner. "There's a bed, but no mattress, or clothes, or anything."
"Maybe they moved into a village?" Sakura offered as explanation just as her the green glow of her hand dissipated. "There's more work there."
"I guess…" Naruto rubbed his chin, and looked at Sakura. "How's the leg?"
"I'll be fine." Naruto knelt down beside her, blonde head bent to get a better look. His hand hovered over her knee and he tilted his head to her.
"Can I?" From her spot, Sakura blushed but nodded nonetheless, and felt his fingers touch her just above her knee. "You sure it'll be fine?" he asked, blue eyes worried at the bruise.
"Y-yeah." She stuttered, and gently swatted his hand away. "I healed it."
"Now if someone could heal me, that would be wonderful." The two turned to Hajime who looked at the two ninja suspiciously. The floor creaked and again, and Diachi walked in, wood in hand.
"That's the idea!" Naruto shot up and rushed to the brunette taking the wood and setting it up. He reached into his pocket and took out a few matches, striking them until the fire finally caught. Slowly the darkened room became illuminated by the orange glow. Diachi helped Hajime move closer to the flame for warmth and began tending to his ribs.
"Ow!" Hajime hissed when Diachi prodded a little too hard. "Will you quit poking and just heal me already!"
"Sorry." Diachi whispered. Taking a deep breath, he hovered his hand over his chest as it began to glow. Soon enough Hajime didn't feel as much pain as he had before, and after a few more seconds all he felt was bit of warm tingling. "That should do it."
The silver haired ANBU raised his arms and moved his torso around, feeling only slightly sore. "Thanks."
Sakura watching all this with careful green eyes, saw Diachi pull away a little too quickly as he sat down and turned back to crackling wood. Naruto hummed on the other side of Sakura as he concentrated on trying to find Sasuke and Sayuri, a small frown marring his features.
"What is it?" Sakura asked and Naruto turned to look down at the rosette.
"Sasuke's had his chakra blocked off." He mumbled. "I can sense them West of us."
"Well if that's the case then we should go over there and get them. God, knows that Sayuri shouldn't be with that man." Hajime spat, eyes glaring at the fire.
Naruto turned to Hajime in shock and anger. "What the hell is your problem!" the blonde growled.
"Naruto…" Sakura called in a soothing tone, placing a hand on her teammates chest to keep him from launching at the silver haired man.
"I've had it with your snide remarks! Sasuke's my friend and he's done nothing to you! So if you've got something to say then say it!"
"Fine." Hajime glared back at Naruto. "Where do you want me to start? The part where because of him Sayuri was suspended from the ANBU? Or the part where he almost killed Sayuri last year!?" Naruto and Sakura were stunned. The two silently blinked at Hajime who only continued to glare. "That's right, your so called best friend-"
"Shut up, Hajime!" Diachi yelled. "That isn't what happened."
"What…what does he mean by he almost killed Sayuri?" asked Sakura who was the first to recover.
Diachi sighed and shook his head. "He doesn't know what he's talking about. He wasn't there."
Naruto turned to Diachi then. "No. But you were." They watched the brunette nod. "What. Happened."
Diachi shifted uncomfortably under their gaze. "It's a mission, what doesn't happen."
"Naruto!" Sakura yelled when the blonde picked the brunette up by his collar.
"Tell us!"
"I can't." Hajime's calm response only managed to agitate Naruto more.
"He's my best friend. If he tried to kill Sayuri then…"
"It wasn't like that." He said slowly. "Put me down."
Naruto pulled back and pocketed his hands. "Sorry."
"It's fine."
The two sat down and the room was filled with an uncomfortable silence.
"That mission was the reason for you quitting the medical corps wasn't it."
Diachi turned to Sakura and nodded. "Yes."
"So whatever happened it was bad enough for you to not want to deal with medicine?"
"…In a way."
"Diachi, just tell them. Stop covering up for the damn Uchiha and say what happened!"
Diachi turned to Hajime and glared. "I'm not covering up for anybody! I promised Sayuri that I wouldn't say anything." He hissed. "And Sayuri was the one who struck first. It was unavoidable."
"Wait…I'm confused. I thought Sasuke almost killed Sayuri?" Naruto asked turning his attention Diachi once again.
"He didn't almost kill her." Diachi sighed. "Hajime, what you heard was a rumor."
"Then explain why she had a wound from the chidori!" the silver haired hothead demanded. "That wasn't an accident."
"Please…Diachi." Sakura pleaded. "Tell us what happened."
Diachi hesitated, running a hand through his brown hair, light brown eyes squeezing shut. He had promised Sayuri to keep his mouth shut. But so far all it had done was cause resentment between her and Hajime, and now Hajime had the wrong idea. He bit his lip, light brown eyes shifting from one ninja to the next. I'm sorry Sayuri, but they're your friends too.
"We were sent on a mission with another team. Our orders were to get a man that had been stealing money from rich noblemen and leaving them dead." At Naruto's taken aback look he almost laughed. "Just because you saved the world from war, it doesn't mean that others feel the same way. There are still people who are greedy, there are still people who thirst for some sort of power. In any case, he managed to get away with the murders for a while, no one knew how they died, but we got a lead. When we received intel of his location Sasuke was passing by the town on his way back to Konoha. When he found out about the mission, he said he wanted to help…"
"Are you sure?" Sayuri asked, sipping her tea. "You won't get paid."
Sasuke's black eyes met her mismatched red and blue. "I'm sure. It's been a while since I had an actual mission."
"You'd get one, if you actually stayed for longer than a few weeks." Said Sayuri, waving the stick of dango at him. "Have you thought of, I don't know…" she tapped a finger to her chin playfully. "…Staying permanently?"
Sasuke smirked. "Miss me?"
The auburn haired girl scoffed. "In your dreams!" Quickly biting into her dango, in an attempt to hide the rising heat to her face.
For a second Diachi thought he saw a flicker of a smirk, but if he did Sasuke did a good job of hiding it as he turned to him. "Do you have a picture of him?" Sasuke asked him, nodding he slid it across the table. Sasuke slid it back to the brunette when he was done. "You have a lead?"
Diachi turned to Sayuri who kept eating her dango and sighed. He couldn't really complain it was the first time in a while that he saw the tension on her shoulders dissipate, and actually enjoying her food. "Yes."
"Good. This will be quick then." Said the Uchiha, casting a glance at Sayuri.
"Why? Do you have something important to do back home?" asked Sayuri with a raised brow and a playful smile.
"Hn."
"That isn't an answer, Uchiha." Sayuri sighed. "And here I thought, you knew how to use your words now." At Sasuke's glare, Sayuri took a sip of her drink. "We should get going." Sayuri said, placing enough money on the table for all of their food and drinks. The two men turned to her and she smiled, tapping her earlobe, gesturing to the earpiece. "Time to meet up."
"The other team was tasked with following up on the lead, we were tasked with scouting the area. To get acquainted with the ins and out of the town." Diachi leaned forward, closer to the fire. "In hindsight we should have taken care of the lead. Sayuri has been acting skittish since the war, and it showed when we were scouting, but neither one of us were heading the mission so we didn't have much of a choice other than to follow orders."
A loud crash made the trio tense up. Night had fallen in the town and civilians ran out of a small bar just as a body was thrown out of the window.
"Move!" Sayuri ordered as they ran to the scene, where a man rushed out and began attacking the man on the ground. Sayuri and Diachi immediately recognized him as one of their second medic. He shoved himself away and caught the man's foot just before it hit his head.
"He's getting away!" He nodded past the crowd. "The Captain and Kitoki are tailing him! Go!"
The three followed orders and took to the roofs. Further ahead they saw the other two men looking around them frantically.
"What happened?" Sayuri asked as she landed on a rooftop just above them.
"We don't know where he went!" Their Captain answered, running a hand through his green hair.
"Shit." Sayuri cursed and looked around her. Frowning she leapt off the roof and onto the ground. She placed her hand on the dirt road, eyes flashing dark and light green. Behind her the others waited quietly, Sasuke being the only one to catch her back tense. "I think he went into the woods."
"You think?" Kitoki mocked, brown eyes narrowed. "We're not going to run into the woods, on just a hunch. He could still be in the village."
"Yes, I think." She snapped, standing up and meeting the man's glare. "I don't know his actual chakra signature, if I did I'd be sure, and if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be having to do this. There is only one person moving away from this town and they're in the woods. So yes, I think it's him."
"Then we should head after him." Diachi said.
When the two men looked at each other Sasuke went to stand next to Sayuri. "If you two aren't so sure then stay here and search the village, we'll search the woods." Then turning to Sayuri. "Lead the way." Sayuri took a deep breath and ran off, Sasuke closely behind.
"Hey!" Their captain called just before Diachi followed. "If anything goes wrong, you know what to do."
Diachi nodded. "Yes, sir!"
Sasuke kept his eyes on Sayuri as she leapt from one branch to the next. Diachi fell slightly behind but he was close enough. The two men watched Sayuri reach into her pouch producing six glinting shuriken.
"Diachi."
"I know." He replied falling further behind the two ninja in front of him. Watching her throw the shuriken at the man running below effectively stopping him in his tracks. The next thing she threw was a kunai bomb, but the man jumped out of the way quickly enough to avoid getting hit.
"Is that all you've got!?" the man mocked from below and suddenly he found himself thrown against a tree. Daichi stopped, high above the fight just as Sayuri walked towards the man.
"Who the hell are you?" he spat as he stood up, taking out a kunai.
"Ren Tsutsuki, you are wanted for the murders of six noblemen belonging to the Land of Fire. I am here to take you back to Konoha."
"What makes you think I did it, little girl?"
"We've got eye witnesses." She placed a hand on her hip, mismatched eyes narrowed. "You got sloppy."
"Oh." Ren twirled the kunai in his hand. "And I don't suppose you came alone."
"Come willingly or I'll make you." She replied ignoring him.
Ren laughed. "It won't be that easy brat!" he rushed at her swiping his kunai right and left, while she jumped back and moved from one side to the next avoiding a hit. When he shifted his position to kick she caught his foot, eyes turning a dark and light yellow color as electricity poured out of her hand shocking him as she shoved him away. Ren stumbled back and leaned against a tree, black eyes wide. "Why you-" he gasped as the vines slammed him back against the tree preventing him from moving.
"If I were you, I'd go along quietly." Sasuke said, having watched enough as he emerged from the shadows.
Ren's eyes shifted to Sasuke and he laughed. "Well if it isn't the last Uchiha."
Sasuke's right eye bled Sharingan red. "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you."
"But of course…Uchiha." Suddenly the trees on their left and right exploded sending the two back in an attempt to get away. Sayuri landed on her side while Sasuke landed on his feet to her left.
"Sayuri!" he called when he saw the man run to the Marihasha on the ground.
"Ah, ah, ah." He chided, hand on her forehead just as she summoned her katana. "None of that." He ordered and pulled away watching the girl on the ground tremble. His sight of her was cut short as he was kicked back and away from her.
"Sayuri-" Sasuke turned to her only to see her still in the same position she was in just a few seconds ago.
"Watch out!" He heard Diachi yell just as Sayuri swung the katana his way. Further away, Ren sat up, one hand holding his ribs and the other pointed at her, chakra strings emitting from his fingers.
"Let's see how long you can last against her." He laughed making Sayuri slash at Sasuke as fast as she could.
"Leave her alone!" Diachi yelled as he leapt down towards the man but was kicked out of the way by Sayuri who stood defensively in front of the man.
"Ever wonder how I got those idiots to let me in? To let me get close enough to kill them without even leaving a trail? No? Well know you know." Ren laughed. "All I have to do is get close to them to touch them, then they're my puppets." Sayuri pointed her katana at the Diachi. "They can only do and say what I want them to do and say. And you want to know the best part?" He smirked. "They're completely aware of what they're doing!"
Sayuri jumped into the air, katana pointed downward and at Diachi who rolled out of the way.
"They're stuck in their heads." He laughed as Sayuri punched Diachi in the abdomen, then sending him flying into a nearby tree with a kick. "Watching every little thing."
She then turned to Sasuke whose chidori chirped, as he rushed towards the man, but before he could reach Ren, Sayuri stood in front of him forcing to him to divert his attack and scratching her arm. His black eyes met hers when she ran the katana up through his abdomen, the bloody metal coming out the other side.
Sasuke spat out blood and held on to her shoulder for support. Sayuri pulled the katana out, hand trembling at her side, while her eyes only widened in horror. Sasuke's gaze slid to the man behind them who stood up and threw a paper bomb wrapped around a kunai on the ground just behind Sayuri. Sasuke using the little bit of strength he had left pulled Sayuri back, and covered her from most of the impact.
"Earth Style: Dragon Blast!" Diachi yelled causing a mud dragon to form before him, its jaw open as a mud ball was aimed at Ren who was hit and slammed into the ground.
"Sasuke…" he heard Sayuri call. "SASUKE!" He rushed to the girl as she pushed Sasuke onto his back. His dark shirt moist from the blood and she tried to get the bleeding under control. "Diachi do something!" she cried and the ANBU shoved her hands away as he took over the healing, but there was too much blood. There was too much damage to heal at once…He felt himself falter. Sayuri reached for Sasuke's neck to check his pulse and gasped. "DIACHI!"
"I…I…" Diachi cursed under his breath. There was too much damage, and the bleeding. There was too much blood. "Help me!" He ordered and she obediently put her hands back to their spot concentrating her chakra as best she could to heal the man below them. But each time the bleeding stopped for a few minutes and then started all over again. Behind him he heard Ren groan, he looked over his shoulder, his chakra faltering when he saw Ren getting ready to run. "Sayuri!"
She lifted her head, eyes flashing green when a root shot up from the ground, piercing the man through the chest, it wasn't too long after that he slumped forward, unmoving. Wide eyed, the young man turned back to Sayuri whose eyes were dangerously narrowed, sliding his eyes slowly down her trembling hand on the cool grass.
"Sayuri…" He whispered. At the sound of her name she snapped back to him, reached around Diachi to his pouch and pulling out a flair, igniting it and letting it light up the sky in a bright red color.
"Sayuri, the mission was-"
"I know!" she snapped then turned back to Sasuke and after a brief pause added. "Please, concentrate on him."
"I…" he watched her with careful eyes, as she hovered her hands over Sasuke's chest alongside his. "I healed some of the main internal injuries…but if we can't stop the bleeding…" Diachi trailed off, looking at his hands covered in the red substance.
Sayuri looked at Sasuke whose skin was slowly losing its color. "Please…not you too. Please don't die…" she chanted, all the while his fingers trembled as the Uchiha continued to bleed out.
"What the-!"
"Please help him!" Sayuri yelled. Quickly, the man that was thrown out of the bar rushed forward and pushed Sayuri out of the way as he worked quickly with Diachi to stop the bleeding, repair the damaged veins, and seal of the wound. It took them a few more minutes, but the man knew what he was doing. He had to, in order to be Diachi's senior. Soon the bleeding came to a halt, Sasuke's breathing evened out, but he was still pale.
"You can stop." Diachi heard the man say, pulling Diachi's chakra emitting hands off of Sasuke's body. "You can stop." He repeated slowly this time watching as the brunette fell back and watched his trembling hands. Light brown eyes widened at the sight, he looked down at the grass saw the small puddle and gulped.
"What happened?" their captain asked gesturing to the dead man on the ground not too far from them.
"I'm did it. It was my mistake." Sayuri pushed herself up, head bowed.
"Do you realize that this means the mission is a failure?"
"I will take full responsibility."
Their captain pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closing shut. "Damn it."
"We need to get Sasuke to the town's hospital." The other medic interrupted "He lost a lot of blood. They'll be able to stabilize him there."
"When we got to the hospital the staff freaked. The captain left to go inform the Hokage of what happened. Sayuri signed a statement claiming full responsibility for Ren's death and by consequence the mission failure. Sasuke couldn't be moved from the hospital until he fully recuperated so Sayuri and I stayed behind."
Diachi washed his hands for the thousandth time but he could still see the blood. Taking a deep breath, he headed back to Sasuke's room and paused at the door hearing the doctor speak to Sayuri from inside.
"He's stable now. He should be waking up soon." He heard the doctor say. "We're just going to finish taking his vitals and keep making him comfortable until he does."
"Thank you." Sayuri mumbled. "Excuse me." Diachi stepped back as the door opened. Sayuri closed it and leaned against it, head bent and shoulders shaking. For the first time during the entire mission, Diachi saw Sayuri cry.
"Go to the restroom." Diachi said causing her to pause. She had been too caught up that she failed to notice him there. "It'll give you more privacy."
Biting her lip, she nodded, and wiped her cheeks to regain some sense of composure before doing as he suggested. She paused mid step and turned back to him. "Please, take care of him for me."
"That's what happened." Diachi sighed. "None of it was his fault. It wasn't her fault either. He was trying to protect her. That wound you saw, Hajime, was nothing compared to what he let her do to him."
Hajime frowned and looked away. "Sorry." He mumbled.
"Now that I think about it…" Naruto frowned. "When Sasuke came back to the village he was acting weird. He was on edge and trying to get a hold of Sayuri."
Diachi nodded. "After she returned from the restroom, I left them alone. I don't know what happened, but after that she had me stay with him, and was distant until we got back to Konoha."
"That was when she got temporarily suspended from ANBU by Moriyo-sensei." Hajime mumbled.
"Why suspended though?" Sakura asked.
"In Moriyo-sensei's point of view she couldn't complete a simple B rank mission successfully, then why keep her active in the ANBU where they deal with A and S rank missions. The mission was to capture Ren and bring him back to Konoha for trial, not to kill him, and Sayuri failed. Moriyo-sensei thought, that Sayuri needed extra training, so she had her suspended."
Both Naruto and Sakura looked at the two men in disbelief. They began to think back to a year ago, recalling how Sayuri was always busy, sometimes looking worse for ware, other times she seemed absent. That was also the longest they had seen Sasuke stay in the village.
Sakura tapped her finger on the wooden floor. Sasuke had been looking for Sayuri the afternoon she asked him to go out with her. He rejected her on the spot, but later that evening when they ran into each other again, he asked her to go out with him. At the time she hadn't really cared for what had changed his mind. She was just happy that he was finally seeing her as a partner, but now that she thinks about it during the time that they dated he had let her do what she wanted. He was courteous, yes, but nothing beyond that. He didn't hold her hand, or show much affection towards her other than the occasional smile. While that time period helped her realize that he wasn't the one for her, she is now coming to the understanding that he had his mind on Sayuri the entire time. Even though he tried hard to keep her happy by bending to her will: going out on public dates, and buying things together, it was always Sayuri.
Sakura felt a small pang of jealousy. Sure, she now realized that what she felt for Sasuke was childish infatuation, but you couldn't blame her for feeling betrayed. She had tried for so many years to get him to look at her as more than a friend and comrade, but it never really happened. To him she was always Sakura, a reliable source of information, but that was it.
How was it that Sayuri always managed to get Sasuke's attention when it seemed like the girl could care less about him? No. That wasn't true. Sakura looked down to the floor. Sayuri did care about Sasuke, she had seen it in the way that she reminded him to eat, or the way she teased him when he visited the village. She had seen it in the way that Sayuri would noticeably, light up during Sasuke's visits, and in the way she would see him off.
It should have really tipped Sakura off, when all of their interactions came to a sudden halt last year but she had ignored it. Caught in the bliss of finally being with the man she thought she loved.
A warm hand fell on hers, stopping her fingers mid tap. Green orbs shifted to meet blue, just as Naruto gave her hand a firm squeeze before pulling away and she found herself missing the warmth of his hand on hers. Sakura turned back to the fire place, pulling her legs to her chest avoiding Naruto's gaze. She knew that he knew what she was thinking. He always knew, even when he pretended to be dense.
"We should get some sleep. We've got to go look for them tomorrow." Naruto said as he pulled his and Sakura's pack closer to them to use as makeshift pillows.
"Right." Hajime said as he folded his hands behind his head and laid back. Diachi pulled his bag closer to the chimney and sat facing the door.
"I'll keep watch in case someone tries something."
"Are you sure?" Naruto asked a bit worried for the brunette. He watched Diachi's head jerk in a small nod and left it at that. "Alright." He said eyes flickering over to Sakura's back then to the window. I'm sorry Sakura. He thought as he laid on his side.
A.N.
Here it is! Sorry for the delay, I'm back in school and have a lot of work to do. I hope you liked this chapter, please let me know what you think of it. Next time we'll be back to Sasuke and Sayuri! Thank you all for all of your wonderful reviews please keep at it. It helps keep me motivated to know that you guys like how the story is going so far.
Thank you again and please review!
