The Calling

By ShinobiSpirit

[ ] - Inner Sakura

--------------------------------------

Sweat ran down the smooth exterior of Sakura's wide forehead. It was hot, even when the sun had just barely begun to peak over the horizon, and she was worn out.

They had been traveling for--what she estimated--about 5 hours, with no rest at all. Trying to keep up with Sasuke's fast pace wasn't making things any easier on her, but she knew they needed to get to the bottom of this; Naruto and Kakashi were no where to be found.

Kakashi, knowing how he was, made Sakura more understanding of his absence. But Naruto? Even when he got into a confrontation, he'd at least wait it out for them, wouldn't he? And just what kind of trouble had that blonde-headed idiot gotten himself into this time? She wasn't sure whether to be mad or worried. 'Probably both..' [That idiot is going to PAY!]

Naruto and Kakashi weren't the only ones she was concerned about, though. The raven-haired boy walking a few steps ahead of her hadn't said a single thing to her since they started. Not only that, but she caught him holding his shoulder a few times. She thought that after having the Hokage perform a seal on the curse a month or two ago, it had disappeared. In fact, he hadn't really shown any signs of it bothering him during missions following the ceremony. Could Orochimaru be out there somewhere?

Sakura suddenly got cold feet, rendering her incapable of standing on her wobbling knees, she crumbled to the ground. That horrible memory of failure.. it plagued her more than she let on. Remembering her friends, her teammates, all fighting for her. All defeated, littered around the battle grounds in mangled heaps. What did she do? Nothing. Nothing but watch her friends drop to the ground one by one in front of her very eyes.

Clutching the soil between her fingers, a wave of pain washed over her, and silent tears escaped from the dams she obviously didn't build strong enough. She hated crying.

Sasuke, after hearing the familiar sound of a body thumping against the Earth, was now looking at the broken girl with blank onyx eyes. He didn't understand her reasons for crying like this, but he did understand what it felt like to cry. Three or four steps closed the distance between them, and he found himself crouching in front of the bawling girl. From his pocket, he pulled out a small, neatly folded white cloth, holding it out to her gingerly.

"I'm sorry.." He heard her choke out after accepting the handkerchief.

"Don't worry." He replied, his eyes looking about a third more intense than usual. "We'll find them."

As expected, Sasuke didn't understand why she was crying. Assuming it had something to do with their two missing comrades wasn't exactly wrong either, she noted, but it wasn't the main reason. The real reason. The one that she was constantly trying to run from. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun." She muttered, sniffling a little into the handkerchief. 'It smells like him..'

Sasuke nodded, a small smirk slipping across his thin lips as he straightened, watching her wipe her face off. After a moment, she too stood, smiling a little at her only remaining teammate as they began walking side by side down the dirt path, neither saying another word for quite some time.

----------------------------

"Hey! Hey! Hey!!!!!!" Naruto hollered, kicking his feet and writhing against the pole he was chained to. "Damn it! Let me go!"

"Hahahaha." Laughed a sing-song voice from the shelter which darkness cast upon it. "My my, you truly are the loudest of Konoha village."

Naruto growled at the figure he could just make out in the dim light. He had no idea where he was or what really happened, but he was starting to get worried about his other teammates. "You bastard!!!!! What did you do with my friends?! ANSWER me!"

"Your friends?" The figure asked, obviously amused by the blonde boy's question. "When I found you, you were alone."

"Huh?" Naruto was confused. He was alone? Then where did Sakura and that jerk Sasuke go? 'Maybe they got separated from me! Sakura-chan could be all alone somewhere! Damn it!' He jerked at his restraints harder, not noticing that with each yank of the chains, they gradually got tighter. Suddenly, it was getting harder to breathe. "Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT! Do you have any idea who you're messin' with?!"

"I think the better question would be.." The figure paused, a grin traveling along slender black lips. "Do I care?"

Naruto gritted his teeth. What was he going to do? He couldn't perform a ninjutsu with his hands chained a good ways apart behind his back. Even when he pressed his shoulders back as far as they would go, he could barely touch his fingertips together. 'This is bad.. figures that show offy jerk isn't around when I'm really in trouble! Damn him!'

---------------------------

Meanwhile, Sakura sat with her knees bent on the softness of her sleeping bag. Placing the last two or three stones for the evening fire in a perfect circle, she shifted her legs out from under her and sat Indian style, awaiting Sasuke's return with the firewood and tonight's dinner. She offered to help, but he told her to stay here. Which was a little unnerving, however, she did as she was told.

While waiting her mind strayed to other things. Like, where Naruto and Kakashi-sensei were. If they were okay, or maybe even together. A sigh escaped her lips. Somehow she felt like it was her fault they were gone. Maybe if she hadn't asked to go look at the stars, they'd all still be together. Of course it was rather pointless thinking about that now. There were many ways to look at the outcome of "if's" and "maybe's," but only one conclusion.

A few more minutes passed. The shuffling of leaves followed by a blue-sandaled foot poking out from the bushes told Sakura it was none other than Sasuke, allowing her to relax a little.

One of his arms was stuffed full of firewood, the other carrying fish from a string flung over his shoulder. He moved to set the wood down in the circle before sitting down beside Sakura, who was watching his every movement as best she could in the darkness.

Bringing his hands together in formation, Sasuke preformed the seal for fire elements, concentrating his chakra on the dry wood before him. A flash of flames erupted from the circled stones, and then there was light. That's when Sakura noticed that Sasuke was shirtless, revealing his lean, wet muscles in the wake of the night. She blushed and looked away, biting her lip to hold back a girlish giggle.

Sasuke, not noticing the girl's embarrassment at all, began skewering the fish on sticks and positioning them between the stones so that they leaned into the fire to be cooked. After finishing, he sat there in silence, poking at the fire every so often with an extra stick to keep it going.

----------------------

Their meal went quickly, and they were now comfortably settled for the night. Sasuke was leant back against a tree, his shirt now on, with his eyes closed and hands resting in his lap. Sakura was curled up facing Sasuke, watching him intently as she drifted off to sleep.

She hadn't slept so peacefully in a long, long time.

--------------------------

Good night.

SS