Disclaimer: This piece is created based on Naruto series, which is created and solely belonged to Kishimoto Masashi - no profit is made from this piece for it is used resolutely for fun. No copyright infringement intended.
Warning: Mild violence and language and no Orochimaru.
Author's Note: Will be long, at the end of the chapter. Now, enjoy :)
XXXXX
CATASTROPHE
By Silbi
Chapter Five
Step.
"Ugh... Damn..."
Step.
A sound of cloth being dragged against the rocky ground greeted the morning cheerfully. Shhhrrrt.
"Move, you sack of miserable-useless-thingamabobs - " Grunt.
Haruno Sakura, dragging her overstuffed backpack while trying hard to shoulder another one, looked at her companions from beneath heavy eyelids that threatened to close, and a sheepish but annoyed grin crept to her pallid, sweaty face. "Hi." She said shortly. Then she went back to heaving her stuff, her bag on the verge of overflowing as it stretched on every seams accommodating whatever was inside her big and black baggage, various house supplies tied across and over it. The others sweatdropped, attempting to conjure a mental image of Sakura dragging that enormous burden from three blocks away, which was her house - then another grunt came and brought them back to reality.
Naruto was the one who first tried being helpful, considering all of the things in his apartment (that included his mountain-high stash of ramen) magically fit in a duffel bag, which he was carrying loosely in a hand. "Need help carrying all those... eh... stuffs, Sakura?"
"No thank you, Naruto, I'm cool." She shrugged her backpacks as if trying to assure him that she wouldn't fall any second when she actually would, her back felt like it was carrying a ton of bricks - and her contorted face, adorned with an attempted smile, was enough to send alarms to her companions not to play nice and decent with her and butt off instead.
Do thank your teacher, Naruto, for he was the reason I'm bringing all this junk.
She started to reread her mental list consisted of all the pleasantries that she could have shared (and usually preferred to) with her teammates in general missions, meaning a lighter baggage either of them would be carrying - but she didn't, pleasing herself with all those personal things in unnecessary fear of having to share with the teacher.
That's paranoia, you know - or is it more like phobia? What are you afraid of actually?
Nothing, I tell you, said Sakura mentally and menacingly, veins on her forehead throbbing and causing her great pain.
An indirect kiss won't kill, you know, and that's a step closer to your imagination.
After that thought passed, a girlish, annoying giggle followed. She rolled her eyes.
"So, when will we depart?" she asked casually, ignoring the mental banter, eyeing the sun that started to crawl higher and higher to zenith.
"We're waiting for Kakashi-sensei, in case you forget that he's in." said Sasuke, projecting utter boredom like he always did, now resorting to draw circles and spirals on the sand with a twig.
Oh, yeah, HIM.
"Yo."
Speak of the Devil. Thou shalt not forget one that sayeth 'Yo'.
She blushed again at the thought of him in her dream last night, those unseen lips had been pressed tantalizingly on hers, leaving hot mark that burnt even after she splashed cold water to her face and washed her mouth.
Gah. Even in a dream I couldn't remember how his lips had looked like... though certainly they weren't of the fish kind. With those he could mesmerize a ramen-selling grandpa and a waitress in a flash.
The conclusion was... she was a hundred meters behind her chattering teammates, already at a distance. Damn.
XXX
On the way to the city they're heading to, thankfully, Kakashi re-briefed them all once more (maybe considering Naruto's tendency to experience a short-term memory loss while going through mission details, not because he had caught her 'fawning over Shikamaru', just like how everyone put it), which she fully paid attention to. A consoling thought of what might have happened during the completion of their mission didn't make her budge - she just needed this one mission to be completed to prove that no matter how many lack-ofs that she suffered, she could still finish a goddamned objection with her friends as her allies, not her props.
That last one, was just the least thing that she wanted. Kunoichi needing props at the age of seventeen? I mean, who was she kidding? Herself?
She jogged lightly along with her two old teammates, relishing the time they were finally sent for a mission together again, and grudgingly thanking Kakashi for asking her to bring only her 'basic needs' - she lost one and a half of her backpack, and now only carrying a smaller version of her black bag. Naruto had been struck with ultimate horror the moment the teacher said that they had to throw away unnecessities, but once he assured him that no surviving needs including ramen will need to be, the trudging quickly shot up to delighted hops that remained so until lunch-time, when the blonde's plea to stop for a meal was brushed away by Kakashi.
"We'll stop later, when the sun is going down," he said, and added, "After that our walk will be more adventurous."
Naruto didn't seem to catch the meaning of the latter information, but he remained silent throughout the last quarter of their journey. The seemingly endless walk was worth it, because soon as the sun went down a notch to the west, they finally stopped on a small clearing and dropped their bags at Kakashi's instructions to take the awaited rest. They began making a small fire, collecting woods and sat down in a wide circle before setting the minute fireplace in the middle; five minutes later bowls of steaming ramen out of Naruto's emergency stash had been cooked and appreciated in no time.
The silver-haired jounin was one to finish, and speak, first. (The first one, as you all know, was a challenging act to finish his ramen without showing as much as the lower half of his face.)
"Since you have just had a dinner and a rest, it's best for me to tell you this remote change of plan."
All eyes flew up to meet his, Naruto stopped slurping the last drops of his ramen, Sasuke and Sakura staring at him questioningly.
"We are going to split into two teams: the first will be Naruto and Sasuke, the second will be me and Sakura."
Gravely silence which ensued the shocking news was broken by the blonde's late response - he got too much ramen in hand to digest the information quickly enough. "Whaaaat? Me," he pointed to his chest, "and this jerk?" he then jabbed his finger to Sasuke's direction, "We'll never make it until tomorrow alive and breathing! I demand a change of plan!"
"Ch." Sasuke snickered, before he resumed drinking from his bottle of water.
Sakura watched the minimum exchange of words disinterestedly, couldn't quite comprehend how the two eighteen-year-olds passed as qualified chuunins despite their young age without accepting that their shining career life had to be compromised with their childish behavior.
The kunoichi turned to the only mature-looking ninja of the bunch, who was none other than Kakashi. "Why this sudden change - ?"
"Listen." Kakashi pressed, staring hard at them - the two immatures stopped picking at each other at once - showing that he really had a point to be cleared. He sounded rather impatient, glancing every now and then at the setting sun behind them, the red sky deepening into maroon, the far end had already gone black. "This split is meant to affect the mission in a positive way. Let's just say that there's a group of nins following us close behind, and if by chance we collide, we can beat them easily but not effectively."
"Why going in a team of four is not effective?"
"Given the time limit we should finish our objective in, when we all face the same opponents, we will all be halted - thus we waste the time our opponent can use to prepare a counter-attack, or worse, kill the abducted ninja, which meant a mission failure and a great loss for Konoha. If a couple is put to a halt, another can still continue their journey to the next stop and collect information in advance as they wait for the other pair, and fill each other in when reuniting. We must arrive at our next stop by tomorrow evening, and when we meet there, I'll then explain our next tasks."
Sakura couldn't help wondering aloud, "But why the odd pairs?"
The jounin eyed her with an unreadable expression, and she suddenly had an excuse of examining the last end of ramen hanging limply from Naruto's chin. Naruto, of course, didn't notice the extra weight on his face, until Sasuke guffawed and spluttered, having noticed the dangling noodle while he was drinking and choked in an act of laughing. Before long, both were laughing at each other, the humor staying short when they felt icy daggers stabbed their sides - Kakashi was watching them patiently, and when they stopped, he picked up from where he'd ended as if they hadn't just ignored him and made fools out of themselves.
"They are, in my humble opinion, the most profitable pairs if we happen to go different ways. Naruto and Sasuke, as we all know, happen to be a rivaling pair, each equals another - " Naruto gagged without sound, sticking out his tongue and retching at the comment, made the teacher eye him suspiciously, "you both can take your rivalry to a better stage this way. And," Kakashi's gaze went back to the fidgety Sakura, "Sakura has to pair with me since it will justify our powers. That will help on the way to our target, too." He explained.
Between the understanding nod from Sasuke and noises as Naruto busied himself back with his ramen leftovers, the pink-haired kunoichi said nothing in objection to that, though the voice within her proved otherwise.
He seems to try getting opportunities to get you alone, Inner Sakura warned her, you might want to have a rain check before mission. Prepare for the inevitable, okay?
...the more frequent such point of view be repeated in her mind the lamer it become. Yes, that might be an answer, but the explanation given by her teacher assured her that there was nothing more in that pair besides a purely business-wise intention. The fact that she had wanted that something more in the team split wasn't unheard of from both her and her sub-consciousness, but was enough to keep her oblivious to the converging paths they're going to take as newly-made pairs.
"That is reasonable," said Sasuke, standing up and helping himself with his bag. "We're off."
The brunet made his way coolly to the left path Sakura suddenly realized was there, since it was starting to get darker and darker and hard to see, with Naruto tailing behind him, running and holding the bowl of ramen, looking overall messy for departing at such a short notice. The noises of their arguments slowly decreased, and soon it was tranquility again with her and her new partner. Owls hooted in the distance, and crickets picked up the cue to start their melodious orchestra, but despite all that supposedly calming natural sounds, Sakura was still feeling edgy.
Just my luck. Left with the partner I wanted the least in the dark of the night. I'd scream if it wasn't all.
"Put the fire out," her partner calmly asked.
True to her words, her inner self squealed (if not screamed). Ha, gotcha now!
She looked at the darkness around them, outside the circle of light the small campfire produced, at the shadows swaying behind their figures, and back at Kakashi incredulously. The look in her face was thoroughly spooked. Now?
Yes, now, before he does the job himself and kisses the living daylights out of you...
She risked her (reddening) neck and waited.
When her teacher amplified his request by answering nothing, she reluctantly did as she was told; as soon as the girl had scooped an amount of damp sand and spread them hastily over the minute fire, it flickered, and darkness enveloped them at once right after the last spark of flame was covered with earth.
Goosebumps rose to her arms and thighs as the chill attacked her the moment the darkness fell; and worse, she almost couldn't see anything. They were too deep in the forest to get even a single ray of moonlight to light their way, and she dared not make a sound in the already unnerving darkness. Her fingers crept to her bag and wrapped around the shoulder strap, her sweaty palms made the strip of cloth felt itchy in her death-grip.
Sakura gasped inaudibly when a hand found her fingers and pulled her deeper in the suffocating blackness - he's strong, don't, don't fight back, her mind pleaded - she regained her courage and pulled back harder to refrain from being taken away.
"It's me." The assailant whispered next to her ear, and she released the increasing amount of carbon monoxide she's been holding in terror just in time when it had become painful.
"Kakashi-sensei, you scared me - "
"A ninja, even a kunoichi, should be prepared in any kinds of fields and situations. Since you are new to this surrounding, I'm helping you to walk in the dark." The grip of his hand around hers tightened a bit, as if pressing the importance of that matter to her, and helped her to stand.
Pompous bastard...
She felt anger lanced through her heart, and she jerked her right hand off of his at once to Kakashi's mild surprise
As soon as she found her voice, she said, "Never," said the kunoichi, the strength in her voice contrasting with the waver that laced the words, "consider me as a liability."
Before Kakashi could answer, she shouldered her bag and ran to where she felt was right, through the obscuring branches ahead of her, walking over tree roots protruding from the ground blindly, mentally going over the same obstacles in the journey of her straying mind.
XXX
Naruto trotted far in the front over snapped twigs and grasses, all the while grumbling menacingly without losing his pace. "Heh... teamwork my ass... see if he can bear a journey alongside this lame excuse of a genius chuunin, doesn't matter if he's dumb as a log..."
He then stared blankly forward, his partner pausing as well to see what was coming next.
"Log is dumb... but back to the topic, can he bear walking next to a man this tacit? My piggybank makes more sound than he does." Naruto shook the bag slung over his shoulder, and when he heard the familiar rattle of gold coins, muffled behind his stuffs, he grinned contentedly. He remembered when Jiraiya brought him to the city where he'd made the most of it at, the moment before he was introduced to the soon-to-be Fifth Hokage, Tsunade. The blonde also remembered vaguely the hurt expression that crossed her face when he had looked at her right into her eyes, yet he hadn't known yet what had pained her so. Ah, something ironic about her and him, he had all the luck in the world in gambling - the exuberant ninja even considered 'gambler' to be his side job, after being a Sixth Hokage-to-be - while Tsunade had just the worst, piling bills and debts wherever she played.
That was what made him deliberately bear with the supposedly dumb-but-genius Uchiha heir. One, this was what would happen if he ever wanted to be a pro, be paired to someone he didn't like; and two, Naruto wanted to see happiness whenever he saw the buxom baa-chan again. He had played cheeky with her just to leave a space for another emotion to cross those actually kind eyes, but now he wanted to do something other than being irksome. He would bear with the dumb log, and that was a start, wasn't it?
"Ow!"
Naruto brushed away a twig that scratched his cheek, harshly awaken from his musings.
The said 'dumb' man was following the path behind, keeping an eye and his ears open for any possible assault in the darkness they're going through. An advantageous position he was in, he could maintain his guard high, plus he wouldn't have to slash wildly and looking all stupid while clearing the way from low branches and thick cobwebs just as his companion had. Before he could say anything smart at the blonde, glinting shurikens shot from three feet above their heads diagonally, barely sliced apart Naruto's head if it hadn't been him leaping forward and toppling them together to the forest ground, and found its landing mark at a nearby tree with three identical thunks.
"Get off me, you perv! What do you want attacking me in the darkness like this?" Naruto, oblivious that he had just been saved, jabbed his forefinger on the Uchiha heir's chest alarmingly.
He didn't even hear those razor-sharp shurikens slicing open thick wood? What's with his ears, two grenades had exploded next to them and turned him deaf?
"Saving you, dobe. You get off me." Sasuke said matter-of-factly, it was him after all who cushioned Naruto, and he hated it when someone was being ungrateful and that particular person was sitting atop him - the position, however, didn't last long when a powerful swipe of feet swung from Naruto's left, who quickly ducked and rolled to his side. As he dodged, however, he caught a glimpse of a man in dark clothes leaping to the high branches as soon as his attack missed.
"Bastard! Show yourself!" Naruto stood up and shouted to the trees with rage, hands already slipping into his pockets to fetch his weapons; Sasuke following suit next to him, eyes registering every movement made around them, blood pounding in his eardrums muffling the sound of rustling leaves.
Crack.
"Gotcha!" The blonde ninja shouted victoriously, releasing a handful of shurikens to the direction of the broken twig to Sasuke's horror.
"It's a distraction, you fool! Duck!" Sasuke pushed down Naruto's head, another weapon slicing through the air just over his hand. "There!" He muttered, the razor-sharp blades flew from his hands at lightning speed followed by a deep grunt, indicating that one of his weapons got their opponent - it didn't matter to him if the injury was fatal or not, the thing was he got him and that made his blood sang in anticipation. Sounds of people leaping off of the trees came afterwards, dried leaves fell prematurely to their heads, tree branches creaking above in the dark.
It was still. Both ninjas held their breaths, waiting for a follow-up while keeping their fighting stances. Five minutes passed before they could breathe deep.
Naruto fell to his back and huffed, "Whew, that was close... Good thing they left, I barely can see a thing at such night... too bad I didn't mistake your head for theirs." said the blonde grudgingly.
Pocketing back his weapons, Sasuke suppressed the anger that coursed through his veins, considering that their attackers had escaped - even the fact that he had injured one of them and made him easier to track didn't enlighten his frustration.
"But remembering that Sakura would kill me if I did, forget it," Naruto added, and bowed to get his discarded bag. "Kakashi-sensei was right about the team split. Let's go, then."
Sakura?
"Fuck." Sasuke cursed under his breath, quickly grabbing his bag and started running.
"What, what is it? Stop understanding this whole situation alone!"
Sasuke turned to Naruto, and never had the blonde ninja seen Sasuke so terrified.
"They might be now catching up with Sakura and Kakashi-sensei. We might as well precede them in the least."
As if on cue, they took off with renewed stamina and started running deeper into the woods.
XXX
"I never thought that she'd even considered such a proposal to be given to me, of all people, of all kunoichi in Konoha..."
Hand in hand with Kakashi in the forest at night had reduced Sakura to talking to herself, probably loosing the tenseness that was building up. Worse, she was blabbering all that had made entrance into her mind, about the scholar given by Tsunade, night sounds that were practically killing her, wondering if Sasuke was gay, for the act of rejecting the whole girls in full bloom in Konoha didn't make sense to her at all - all the while complaining mentally why did her knickers hurt so bad and why the night was getting warmer. Her monologue proved to succeed in shutting up her other way of thinking in the form of Inner Sakura, and a night without her was a new experience to the pink-haired ninja.
"It's Tsunade we're talking about, right? The legendary medic-nin..." said the kunoichi absently, swung her legs forward a bit slower.
She was in the right mind, though, that she didn't consider mentioning the potion - what had been causing the whole chain reaction leading to her skulking in the dark in a mission like this. The pink liquid and the grotesque after-effect had left her mind for a while in the company of her teacher who was holding her hand tightly, and it was making her hand start to sweat uncontrollably.
"Kakashi-sensei..." she started.
"Shh."
Immediately did as she was told, she quickly shifted to her fighting stance, preparing and gathering her chakras, ready to be used at will.
"Lose it."
"Huh?"
"The chakras. They're attracting unwanted attention."
Feeling the chakras slipping back to their former places in her body, her body sagged as she relaxed, though moments later she would have regretted it deeply.
SLASH!
Wind blew past Sakura's neck and made her blood run cold - a kunai, a very sharp one at that, had barely missed her neck and Kakashi's that was right next to her - had been next to her. He was gone already, brought an opponent's face upon his knees and broke his nose, from the sound that was brought to her, and she scanned her surrounding to prepare an attack to aide her teacher.
The layers of high branches and leaves parted as the wind blew forcefully - the moonlight streamed down beautifully and lit their current position - and she gasped when she saw they were surrounded by five nins, one down and clutching his covered but obviously bleeding nose, the one that Kakashi had beaten previously. Their faces, just like Kakashi, were hidden behind black masks; all were holding weapons and were in a fighting stance, circling them like starving eagles eyeing a group of fat, terrified rabbits.
She and Kakashi were the pitiful bunnies, facing death.
Kakashi dropped his bag leisurely, reached up and shifted his headband, revealing the scarred eye, the Sharingan, that was hidden most of his life ever since the tragedy that earned him the eye.
Sakura turned and was shocked - he never did that unless it was necessary, but he seemed unwanting to waste his effort and eager to carry on... she began studying Kakashi's figure, from his lean body and up to his face, uncaring that it was rude, never getting enough of that mystifying red orb - one that matched the pair of Sasuke's, which she saw staring coldly at her almost everyday. The dots swirling in that deep red were hypnotizing her, they were creating circles now, her head started to feel heavy...
"What were you thinking?"
Brought back to her senses, she quickly reached her weapons to help him fight, the reason that he showed his Sharingan in the first place.
"Close your eyes and don't do anything unless I say so."
"But - "
"Just do it!"
She shoved her shurikens back into her holster and seeing red behind her eyelids, feeling angrier than ever, but then Kakashi was in the position of the decision maker while there were only two of them. He was her senior, her superior. He risked things but he knew what he was risking, and truth be told Sakura believed in any option that her teacher chose on the field. However, the options were not all pleasant.
You're gonna accept that? Being ordered around like a nanny-goat?
Her ego pushed her eyelids over her eyes and the battlefield graced her eyes once more - she found herself staring right into blood-colored eye, the dots circling so fastly her eyes couldn't follow the movement, faster and faster they went until her eyes saw only red and black - and right after, she realized that her hands were bound over her and everything was pitch black.
A long, sharp sting graced her unguarded back, the crack echoed and dissolved into the air.
At the lash on her back she screamed, but the blew came one after another, whipping mercilessly across her back while she screamed and screamed; she felt sticky warmth seeped through the back of her dress... she assumed that it was blood... red, as the blood red orbs...
Kakashi looked about at the mentally wounded ninjas that were slowly sinking to their knees, but when his eyes arrived at the end of the circle, he found a fazed Sakura, face contorting as if in pain, her eyes were blank, mesmerized.
"Sakura!"
Knees unwilling to support her form anymore, she collapsed to the dirt along with the other ninjas that were squirming and moaning on the ground in excruciating yet imaginary pain like maggots, all victims of a Sharingan's illusion.
XXX
"I wonder how Sakura is doing right now."
Sasuke smirked coolly. "That is so nice of you, but how about thinking how to get us out of this God-forsaken hole we're in right now? Does that sound like a good idea?"
"Sheesh, relax," Naruto cringed visibly and sunk back to a crouch, looking up desperately at a circular light far above them, the rim of a wide hole they fell into some minutes ago as they were tracking their other teammates earlier right after the attack.
"Maybe we're in some kind of an old well," the blonde suggested absently.
"Why, isn't that just brilliant," Sasuke grumbled. "Mind telling me why we're in this some kind of old well in the first place?"
"Stop acting like this is my fault you dumbass!"
"And that, for God's sake, is!"
"Dear Lord," Naruto said and brought up his hands with shiny, dreamy eyes and in a tone that made Sasuke get shivers up his spine (in pure horror and disgust), "why did I agree to go with this sonofabitch I'd never want to team with even after the next hundred of years?"
Not so long after, the raven-haired boy flopped down next to the blonde, shoulders inches apart, sitting with knees bent supporting their stretched hands. Naruto's eyes widened as big as saucers and almost scooted over, but when the Uchiha heir didn't act or look like he was going to manage a mischief on him, the blonde let him be and joined him in silence.
They gazed upwards at the star-laden sky, pausing and actually forgetting for a moment the bicker they'd been having to sit back and bask in the moonlight, letting the God-crafted view sink into their knotted and tangled minds. To Naruto, Sasuke was actually a good company, but only when he's silent and not picking on him like he always believed the Uchiha heir did. To Sasuke, Naruto was actually a good company as well, but only when he wasn't rambling about the importance of ramen in everyday life or starting a fight with those childish but rude exclamations.
"It's beautiful, don'tcha think?" Naruto whispered dreamily, then chuckled, "Though we're not in the perfect place on the perfect time to enjoy it... but it's still beautiful."
"Mm-hmm."
"Do you think people out there are enjoying this too?"
"Hn."
"...and of all people, I still wouldn't ever choose you deliberately to be my teammate."
"Why do you have to be so goddamned tight-lipped? In this last ten minutes you didn't even go as far as whistling!"
The raised eyebrow and the humored face didn't send a message clear enough for Naruto to comprehend, so Uchiha Sasuke helped himself by declaring what he was up to.
"I'm collecting my chakra to bounce us out of here, dobe, so if you don't mind - "
The blonde eyed the spot between Sasuke's legs and his gaze climbed slowly upwards like a scanner, before he smirked appreciatively. Hadn't they been in the field right then doing a mission, the ministration would have looked suggestive to ones that paid attention and would have attracted mixed-up reactions from the fangirls' watchful eyes.
"Come to think of it, oh-the-genius-one, you have been sitting on the end of a tree root which might be available for us to climb on, so if you don't mind?" The blonde gestured the other one to step aside with a satisfied smirk, feeling that that time he had won the argument.
"I don't mind, really, but..." the amused ninja scooted over, "...is there actually a thing to climb on to?"
The tree root, it seemed, didn't grow outside the high wall but inside; and what Naruto suspected to be something that could work as a ladder proved to be only a small end of tree root protruding from the wall behind Sasuke.
"Feh. Asshole." He stomped away from the dark-haired Uchiha and leaned on the wall opposite him. "I really want to know how Sakura and Kakashi-sensei are doing."
Sasuke sighed, silently saying 'That crap again?' "Sakura's in good hands, if that's your concern," he added before concentrating back to his chakra-gathering.
"That's what concerns me the most! His hands are too good, I swear if he dares to lay a smutty finger on her - "
"What, you'll kick his ass? He'll finish you before you say anything memorable, that's for sure. Not that you've ever said anything memorable." Sasuke snickered.
"Hope she's fine..." Naruto, not listening to his partner anymore, said to himself, and looked back up to the comforting dark sky.
Somewhere, not far away, but not so close -
Wake up, Hime...
The calling bounced in her skull. There were crusted lines on her cheeks from tears and sweat, but she couldn't yet make a move to remove them with her fingers. Sakura couldn't feel them.
Who is it?
Slowly opening her eyes, she saw, once again, Kakashi - she was reminded of her former dream at once, from the way he looked at her intently, his visible eye undressing her - it was clearer than the dream, though, enough for her to take in her surrounding; the weight of her body supported by a wide, thick strip of futon for her to sleep, the darkened room that was ten times her apartment, the swaying of moonlit shadows on the elaborately decorated shoji doors leading to what she believed would be the garden.
"It's time, Hime," the silver-haired guy said softly to her, offering her his hand, beckoning her to take it.
Time for what? Sakura willed herself to say, but found her lips were glued hard and frozen, and she could only sit there and watch him, feeling cold and alien.
"It's time for us to go," he repeated patiently and stood up, still waiting for her to take his hand, "we're running away from this place."
Sakura...
Her eyeballs darted right and left, looking for the source of the voice. The louder it got, the more she realized that it was coming from inside her skull.
Wake up, Sakura...
Her vision doubled, the hand before her multiplied and blurred, the terrified kunoichi reached to the offered before it all started spiraling, creating a red vortex that sucked everything in her sight.
Meanwhile, presently, Kakashi was dreading Sakura's condition - she had got a high fever, and the light drizzle that didn't cease to fall was making it worse. The rain had been falling from midnight until then, and there was nothing he could do about it but sheltering themselves under a great tree. That didn't even help much, for the bellowing wind had been blowing cold water to their position, so Kakashi could only hope that she would get better soon.
What is real?
The pain was sawing her head in two, and the vortex was now sucking her in too... the warmth leaving her body rapidly, and faster as she got a taste of nothingness -
Her erratic breathing didn't slow down, her chest rising up and down fastly, and she groaned as the stinging all over her back greeted her second awakening.
Sakura's eyelashes fluttered open, struggling a bit to see in the blue-tinted view but to no avail, and found her upper body was pillowed on thighs, her head cradled in a long, muscular arm, the fingers caressing her chilled face. The momentary immobilized kunoichi tried moving the muscles in her face and it felt rock hard like stone, she couldn't even wiggle an eyebrow or something of the same kind, but knowing that now she's in control of her own body, she settled down a bit. Not so long after, her vision came back, though still a bit blurry.
It was another dream, Sakura told herself, again, that was very real.
Turning her head slowly, the girl focused on Kakashi.
"Hurts..." she croaked, parched throat hurting as she spoke.
"I told you to close your eyes, Sakura. You didn't, and you fell victim for my Sharingan. Good thing you didn't open your eyes all the way from the beginning..." He didn't continue.
If she did, it would be so much worse. He would never get to see those endless emerald orbs again, swim in the depth of it as he talked to her...
Kakashi shook the thoughts away. Focus. She needs comfort.
However, the kunoichi hastily freed herself from Kakashi's half-embrace and stood in rage, adrenaline taking control of her senses and mind, though her every joint protested and her stinging back started to hurt even more. Before she could realize it, she had already begun yelling at him.
"I only wanted to help you!"
"I didn't ask you to!"
The words slapped her hard on the cheek, and Kakashi seemed to be angry with himself for losing his cool, but she quickly regained her composure and attacked back, her words laced with unbound hatred and a tint of disappointment for her teacher.
"I don't want to be protected! Is that too much to ask?"
Sakura tried persuading him by pleading indirectly - she looked into his eye, her mind chanting the words like a sutra.
Stop this, please, please say no -
"Yes."
He didn't even bother to explain, and that had hurt the most.
The kunoichi turned on her heels and started taking an alternate way - a mutiny to take over herself and her will.
"You're not going anywhere."
The commanding tone was it - she was now practically walking away from him as fast as her aching limbs could manage. He wasn't going to use violence on her, she noted, he didn't even move from his former position. If it was for me and my frailty's sake, thank you, but I'm not buying that. I am an asset of Konoha like anybody else, and I deserve to prove that I do love the village as much as you do.
"I am going."
"Where to?"
After swallowing a lump in her throat bitterly, she replied, sounding almost like she was telling herself that, "To people who appreciate my presence in a team better."
The pink-haired kunoichi could imagine Kakashi threw his hands to the air in desperation from the rustle of movement behind her - she didn't intend to turn and go back, so she didn't give a damn if that guy actually did something while she wasn't looking. She doubted if he actually did, though; he was the guy that never lost his trademark cool even in the most embarrassing and nerve-wracking situations. Not even when Lee had run into him in the middle of the road, proclaiming his deepest and unbending love to his female student, asking for advice about how to tame the fierce beauty - from the distance, it still had sounded so indecent, and her fist had shot sideways and knocked out an innocent Naruto looking at a ramen shop at a distance - her teacher simply said that he only had to show his talents and masculinity, and the latex-clad student had bowed in deep gratitude and dashed away to practice some more.
How could she even remember that moment in a time like this?
She was supposed to hate him, yet she couldn't stand doing so for more than five minutes. The anger would ebb away no matter what.
"It's not that I don't appreciate you, Sakura - "
The kunoichi stopped, and so did Kakashi. He was once again burning holes in her back with his eye, but she didn't know who she was trying to ignore, he had so many personas that she couldn't even bear with any of them at a time.
How could he think that that was enough? She stubbornly thought, and refused to respond.
The light drizzle was beating her skin mercilessly, now that it was numb she couldn't feel a thing - but then the drizzle started falling harder, the wind harsher; it was harder for her to stand straight as it was more slippery, and when she made a move to leave Kakashi be, she lost her footing and fell back - floating for a moment over the ground, her hands searching for something to grasp...
...when a pair of strong arms pulled her back, straight against his chest and held her close. She was then aware of how much their body heights differ, her head tucked under his chin as he silently embraced her, his warmth caressed every inch of her that touched him. Sakura breathed in Kakashi's scent, musky and toned down by the fresh air of rain, the smell of wet earth accented the unique scent as well - as she gulped it in, she felt her lungs burn painstakingly - the pink-haired kunoichi wondered how she could not wake up to the fact that the man before her had that much effect on her. The words flowing past his lips afterwards shook her once more.
"You scared me, dammit," he grunted hoarsely right next to her ear, full of raw emotion, "Never act like that again."
Frozen in his arms, his desperate plea fully responsible for her loss of words; he had sounded so vulnerable for a split second as he spoke to her, he had even cursed - something he rarely did, showed that the worn seams that had been keeping Kakashi altogether had come undone - and a horrid thought of what had caused him to do so made Sakura's heart twist.
He had lost someone important from his past, long ago, in a situation like this.
She reminded him of that loss.
She was the one who broke him down.
Sakura, without thinking, looped her arms around his waist and sunk herself deeper into his chest, the raindrops camouflaging the hot, salty tears starting to stream down her cheeks, but nothing could do to cover the soft hiccups.
She was, too, one of his precious ones.
He only wanted to protect me, and I slap it away -
"I'm sorry, Kakashi... I'm sorry..."
The silver-haired jounin closed his eyes, and bent down to kiss the top of her head lightly. Her pink hair was soft, like he had always imagined.
He did nothing afterwards. He just didn't let go.
Sakura held onto him like a lifeline as her hiccups grew louder into sobs, and she bowed her head down so Kakashi couldn't see.
They stood unmoving in the dark as the heavy rain beat at the couple cold and soaked them to the bones, washing away the facade they had been hiding themselves with for too long, inch by stubborn inch.
The dropped honorific was one of the discarded pieces, too.
XXX
"Seems like she's fine enough, hmm?" Sasuke said, sounding astonished, something that rarely made it to his usual bland tone.
Naruto - lying prone on his stomach next to him - didn't answer; his eyes were still fixated on the couple embracing under the layers of cold rain in disbelief, his gaping mouth starting to collect raindrops.
Sasuke and Naruto were walking past, tired after arguing and attempting to get out of the deep old well which finally was fruitful, when they picked up bits of arguments from behind the bushes; they decided that it was best to crawl through the thick bushes to inspect the source - but when they parted the thick curtain of wet leaves after some tiring elbowing and itching and almost-sneezing, their eyes were surprisingly greeted by a bent back and a tuft of silver hair they knew too well - with hands that they, too, knew too well (distinctive by the pearly pink nail polish on the other's fingernails) looping intimately around it.
Naruto was shocked to the core and hadn't talked since the ten minutes earlier - the time when they first discovered and acknowledged the bizarre scene.
"At least she really is in the right hands..."
"She is..." Naruto found himself whisper, and that made Sasuke turned his head in surprise.
Well, everyone has to mature someday, he thought, looking at the gaping blonde, with no exception of this blonde dumbass over here. His gaze returned to the couple still finding comfort in each other's arms. Her, too.
Pain lanced through Uchiha Sasuke's heart that night as he witnessed the embrace his companions shared, how warm they looked, despite the rain slipping into every crevices but never past their pressed bodies; however, jealousy or hurt was not one emotion his heart could comprehend, and there he was, hidden under the bushes and trying to remain inconspicuous as he pondered if there was something wrong with him while the answer, right before his eyes, remained unseen.
Jealousy.
Sasuke said between gritted teeth, "Let's go."
It took Naruto ten seconds full to register the request - startled, he turned to his partner. "Why? We've found them, why don't we just surprise them and - "
"We'll meet them in our next stop, Naruto, so let's just go, okay?" said the Uchiha heir, rage welling in his chest, bubbling and hissing. He concealed it well enough, for Naruto didn't seem to catch anything suspicious. The blonde eyed the couple again, before he shrugged in his position.
"'Kay, let's go."
XXXXX
TBC
Author's Note: My God, I actually manage to update this fifth chapter... I almost got past my bi-weekly estimation, and I'm feeling bad already. The project I'm currently working on (see my profile for further info) is killing me, and I've got like... three days or so before the D-Day:0 -groans miserably-
Oh well, one thing, I still can't believe that this story achieved over 1,000 hits in less than a month! -grin- I am so glad that you guys liked this story, you guys rock! Hugs and kisses to you all, and what's more, this chapter is longer for your patience's sake :D Never thought that Cat is that popular, though, with the rather dry incoming of reviews... I'm growing while I'm writing, as you can see, and this writing experience is still new to me, so do send me a review and tell me if I'm doing it right :) Koruyuu, thanks a lot for the review! It once again made me giddy :D Also to ArishaGinkaze, haven't heard from you in a while, I'm beginning to miss your kind words ;) To the other reviewers or reviewers-to-be, keep them going!
Nevertheless, all the best and mucho love,
-- Silbi
Next Installment: The soft-spoken came back and hit a nerve, Sakura collapsed, and the other team raced against the time with apprehension.