Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters from Naruto.
A/N: Okay, this was not my favorite chapter to write. As Jane Austen once said, "A girl likes to be crossed in love every now and then." So keep that in mind and I promise a happy ending!
"God, I want OUT of here!" Sasuke growled, holding his head in his hands. Sakura had finally run out of things to say, possibly because the position they had woken up in was much different from the one she recalled falling asleep in. Apparently, Inner Sakura was most prominent in her sleep.
But still, when Sasuke was being this rude he deserved a remark or two.
"YOU want out?" Sakura blew up at him. "It's not exactly a picnic being stuck here with you. Especially after you nearly broke my leg!"
"It was not that bad! And I thought you said it had stopped hurting?" Sasuke questioned, smirking and wishing he could see the look on her face.
"Well-I-it, shut up!" Sakura sulked and Sasuke laughed at her.
"Hey!" a voice that was neither Sasuke's nor Sakura's called from outside the door.
"HEY!" The two yelled in unison. "Let us out!"
"How'd you get in there?" A female voice asked.
"It's locked and there are two people inside," A male voice said.
"Yamanaka Ino stuck us in here!" Sakura shouted.
"Ino did this?" The female asked. "No way!"
"Get back from the door," The male voice commanded. Sasuke and Sakura scooted as far back from the door as they could, then they heard several thuds and saw a bright blue light. When the door finally fell the light from outside was too bright for either of them to see who had rescued them.
"Sasuke? Sakura?" The female stepped in first and bent over to look at them.
"Tenten? Is that you?" Sakura recognized her first.
"Yeah, its me. What happened to your ankle?" Tenten knelt down next to her and examined the injured ankle. Sasuke looked at it as well, with the light he could now see that Sakura had a right to be complaining about it. It was swollen for sure, but it was mostly bruising.
"Neji, help me get her out of here," Tenten said as she put one of Sakura's arms around her shoulders.
"Neji?" Sasuke asked and looked back at the doorway. Neji was glaring at him, and Sasuke had a feeling there would be much explaining involved. But, he seemed calmer than usual and helped Tenten carry Sakura out of the closet.
Once they had settled Sakura on a nearby bench, Sasuke got a good look at their surroundings. As it turned out they had been locked in the storage closet of an old abandoned shelter.
"How did you find us?" Sakura asked.
"Well…" Tenten started. "Don't tell anyone about this but we've always found this area to be a good place for…sparring…since it's always empty and quiet. But you guys were shouting and Neji used byakuugan so that we could find you."
The look on Neji's face suggested that he had not wanted to find anyone and felt annoyed that his time with Tenten had been interrupted. But he couldn't argue, if Tenten told him to find the source of the voices he most definitely would have. And he'd clearly done just that.
"How's Hinata?" Sasuke managed to ask.
"She's fine," Neji replied coolly, though still not sure what to make of the situation. "She has been worried about you."
Sasuke felt a pang of guilt, even though he really hadn't done anything wrong. Sakura seemed to sense this and started paying more attention to how her ankle looked.
"How'd that happen anyway?" Tenten asked Sakura.
"Sasuke tripped over me while we were in the closet," Sakura said emotionlessly. Neji tried not to laugh while Tenten nudged him for being rude.
"Do you think you can walk on it?" Sasuke piped up before Sakura could hear Neji's laughter.
"Yeah I think so," Sakura Said and tried to prop herself up on the bench. She stood up and started walking carefully with only a slight limp. " I seem to be okay."
"Alright," Neji turned to Tenten, "I should get you home now, since these two are okay." Tenten smiled but seemed a little disappointed at the same time.
"Thanks for letting us out," Sasuke said to them as they left.
"Oh, and Sasuke?" Neji turned back one last time. "You'd better call Hinata as soon as you get home."
"I was planning on it," Sasuke muttered and the two shared a glare. Neji broke it off when Tenten tugged at his arm impatiently, reminding him of some promise he'd made to teach her how to use a katana. With one last wave from Tenten, the two left Sasuke and Sakura there alone.
"Better go call her, Sasuke," Sakura said sarcastically. "Wouldn't want Hinata to worry."
"Come on," Sasuke gestured for her to lead. Sakura stared back in surprise. "Naruto would have a fit if he found out I'd left injured in the middle of nowhere. Now come on so I can make sure you get home okay."
Somewhat less than impressed, Sakura started walking in the direction of her house. Sasuke followed, close enough to lend a hand if her ankle got the worst of her but far enough to not get in trouble.
Sasuke felt tired and irritated, he hoped he didn't run into Ino on the way home because he knew if he did, he'd hit her. Very hard. And wouldn't even feel bad about it. Except the whole hitting a girl thing. But that was acceptable in Ino's case. She wasn't a girl, she was a snake. Or a wolf in sheep's clothing. Something like that.
As Sakura got closer to her house, her pace quickened. After spending that much time with Sasuke alone she was eager to get away from him. Plus, the thought of a nice hot bath and a good meal after their ordeal was only too tempting. Sasuke felt the same way, but his house was all the way on the other side of town.
"Well thanks Sasuke, see you later," She began to limp through her gate.
"Sakura," Sasuke got her to stall a moment. "Call Naruto tonight, I bet he was worried." Sakura stared back at him in disbelief but only nodded and went in quickly.
Sasuke turned back around and started to head towards his own house when he heard a familiar voice. He spun around with a smile on his face to see Hinata standing there, only not appearing as happy to see him as he was to see her. Still, Sasuke couldn't resist the urge to run up and hug her. Hinata seemed surprised but didn't fight it.
"W-Where were you? I-I've been calling…" Hinata trailed off.
"I'm so sorry, I got ambushed on the way home from your house the other night," Sasuke started to explain. "I had no idea what was happening, and you won't believe where I got stuck…"Sasuke started to trail off when he saw how wet Hinata's eyes looked. "Hinata-chan… I'm sorry…"
"I w-was worried about y-you, you know…" Hinata said and stepped away from him. "A-And then I go out for a walk a-and there you are. I w-was so happy to see y-you because you were okay."
"I'm sorry you were worried," Sasuke tried to place a hand on Hinata's shoulder but again she pulled away from him.
"You were with her," Hinata gestured in the direction of Sakura's house. Sasuke's heart sank, now he knew what she was really upset about. "You even walked her home, and you can't return my calls."
"No, Hinata, it's not like that-"
"Then what's it like, Sasuke? Just seeing how many girls you could get?" She blubbered, even he could see the confidence she'd gotten from their time together coming out.
"No, we got locked in a closet-"
"A closet? Seriously Sasuke. You can do better than that. I can't believe I was such an idiot, thinking that Uchiha Sasuke would actually like me back when he could have any girl in Konoha," She shoved past him towards her house, but Sasuke caught her shoulder as tried to go past.
"I'm telling you the truth Hinata, Ino locked me and Sakura in a closet," He looked her dead in the eyes as he said this. "I wouldn't lie to you Hinata."
"Then why did you walk her home?" Hinata asked and Sasuke flushed.
"I-I tripped over her a-ankle in the closet and s-she was having a hard time walking," Sasuke answered, him being the timid one now. Shit! This does not look good! She'll never believe this one… He thought.
"You, who I've seen race Naruto up a tree and not fall, tripped over Sakura while in a closet?" Hinata sounded doubtful, and he really couldn't blame her. His story, while entirely true, sounded utterly ridiculous. Probably all part of Ino's plan.
"Hinata, I'm sorry I worried you and I'm sorry you're hurt because of me," Sasuke swallowed hard. " But I swear on…" He winced at the subject, "I s-swear on my parent's graves that I'm telling you the truth."
Hinata stared back in disbelief. The two stood there in silence for the longest time. Him feeling weak, like the world was crashing around him because he'd been ambushed. Her feeling confused, knowing well enough that he would not swear this if he was lying but still unsure what to believe. Finally, she pushed past him back to her house and this time he let her go. He wanted to call her back, but he couldn't find the words.