Blood Red Eyes
Disclaimer: Yeah…these are really annoying….but I don't own Naruto. There…
Author's note: I'm writing this right after I wrote the first chapter because if I wait any longer, I'll slack off and forget to write anymore. So yeah. Please R&R.
Kakashi explained the day's activity, "Today you will practice speed and accuracy. This may look like a pointless exercise, but this actually will increase your battle abilities and your awareness."
Naruto sighed, "Aw…give it a break. Just get on with the rules."
Kakashi hissed at Naruto, then continued, "I'm going to go up into the trees. I'll throw flying darts down at you. You're job is to catch them before they hit the ground. The one who gets the most darts before the day is out gets a prize."
Naruto mumbled, "A stupid prize for collecting the most darts…this is so lame."
Sakura, however, was worried. "Sensei! Isn't that dangerous? Especially if you throw many at once!" She glanced at Sasuke. Worry overtook her. Sasuke had been acting strange all day. Though she didn't know what was wrong, he might not be fit to catch sharp objects out of the air.
Kakashi leaped up into the trees surrounding them. Leaves scattered around them. Sasuke looked at the back of his hand, a desolate look on his face. 'What's wrong with him?' thought Sakura.
"Don't worry," Kakashi's voice came from above, "I've blunted the ends. The most injury that could come out of this would be a couple bruises."
Before Sakura could even breathe a sigh of relief, metal stars rained down from the tree tops. Caught off guard, Sakura leapt quickly to the left, one of the flying darts bouncing off the ground where she had been just a few moments before. A whistling sound flooded above. Sakura looked up just in time to see Sasuke dash passed her head, his feet glued to a tree with chakura, several darts in his hand already.
A chill scurried down Sakura's back. A dart was getting close. Snapping her wrist down, Sakura caught a flying dart right before it hit the ground. Two more coming. She arched her arm over her head catching them. Her skirt rippled around her legs. This was a practice drill. This was a mock war zone. However, Sakura felt relaxed, almost as if she was dancing. Her hair washed in front of her face. She peeked through the strands and caught several more darts. It felt so wonderful. A dance, a rhythmic ritual. She knew she was just beginning to grasp the beauty of Ninjitsu.
The forest grew quiet. Sakura leaned against a tree, exhausted. Naruto lay next to her, gasping, a fair amount of Shurukin grasped in his hands. Sasuke sat across from all of them. Usually he would be standing, smirking, or counting the darts he had collected. Today, his breath burst in rasps from his parted lips. Obviously, this exercise, which would usually be amateur work for him, had wiped him out completely. This was definitely not normal.
"Good job!" Kakashi appeared above them. "I'm out of darts so everyone count how many you have."
Fingering the shiny metal stars over in her hands, Sakura counted. 16 darts. Not half bad. Her fighting skills were really improving. She looked over at Sasuke and blushed. She hoped against hope that he had noticed how much she had improved.
"Okay! List off your numbers!" Kakashi ordered.
Naruto showed a giant thumbs up and yelled, "I CAUGHT 12! BEAT THAT SASUKE!!!!!!"
Sakura stuck out her tongue at Naruto, "I got 16! Tee hee!"
She looked expectantly at Sasuke. Sasuke seemed to be fidgeting nervously, very unlike him.
"I…got 17," Sasuke murmured, his voice stretched with some unreadable pain.
"The best as always, ne Sasuke-kun?" Sakura tried her best to cheer him up. Sasuke gave a half smile, not particularly in her direction but it was enough.
Kakashi seemed fully absorbed in his "Flirting Paradise". Naruto threw a branch at his head, but Kakashi dodged skillfully, chuckling at a provocative picture or a sensual joke contained in his hentai. With a start, Kakashi snapped out of his trance and addressed his teammates. "Oh! Sasuke-kun wins. He gets…."
Obviously, Kakashi hadn't bothered to purchase the prize he promised. After a couple minutes of silence, Kakashi blushed, "Well, I seem to have um….misplaced the prize while I was sharpening my….pencil. So I'll just treat you all to ramen."
Naruto immediately tackled Kakashi yelling, "daisuki daisuki!", not noticing that Kakashi had no pencil to sharpen.
"Ne, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura started, but Sasuke was no where to be seen.
As Kakashi shoved Naruto off of him, he looked around. "It seems Sasuke has disappeared again." Sakura was getting seriously worried. Without thinking, she rushed off in search of Sasuke.
The tip of his black hair peaked from behind a stump, letting Sakura see where Sasuke was. Sakura tip-toed up.
"Oi…Sasuke-kun! We all get ramen! Let's go, okay?" Sakura used her happiest voice in hopes to cheer up Sasuke.
As Sasuke spoke, his voice cracked with hoarseness. "Eh…." He got up. To Sakura's surprise, he stumbled, then winced in pain.
"SASUKE-KUN! Are you okay?" Sakura rushed to help. As her hand touched Sasuke's arm, a shutter of pain cause Sasuke to stagger even more. To her horror, Sakura noticed Sasuke's arms were covered in painful looking bruises.
"Sakura….." Sasuke's voice dripped with despair and anxiety. "It's nothing."
"But…" Sakura started. She took her hand off his arm. "You've been acting weird all day, and you came by my house this morning, like you wanted to tell me something…"
"I came over just because Kakashi told me to," Sasuke looked away and started back to the team.
Sakura felt her spirits fall. Like a feather coated with lead, she felt her body sink down into sadness. Something was wrong with Sasuke. He wouldn't tell her, but she could tell. "Sasuke-kun….I love…you so much….so please…." Hearing herself whisper those words was enough to bring tears to her eyes. 'I have to be strong' she told herself. In a single motion, Sakura wiped the tears away and followed Sasuke.
Waaahhh! Two chapters at once! Be happy!!!!!! I hopefully will write more soon.R&R por favor! (evil Spanish class)