Chapter I
The heat of summer gently kissed her pale skin goodbye as the sun fell behind the mountains, bringing on the slight chill of night. Sakura shivered, cupping her hands over her mouth and blowing, trying to maintain the last bit of heat the sun provided. She watched as the sky transitioned from faded blue to blood orange, the clouds growing rosy.
"Hey, Sakura-chan, are you cold?" Her teammate had a concerned look on his face as he shifted out of his black jacket, "Take this." Naruto shoved the jacket into her hands, his fingertips gently grazing her hands as a soft smile formed on his face.
"Thanks, Naruto." Sakura reached her arms through his jacket, instantly feeling the cold of the approaching September night leaving her body. "I really should have packed more appropriately. I forget how quickly the weather transitions around Konoha this time of year. Last month, no jacket would have been perfectly fine." She smiled back at him, watching his deep blue eyes brighten slightly knowing he had helped her.
"Yeah, well," he lightly tapped the tip of his nose, "That's why you're lucky you're on Team Kakashi with me, Sakura! No one else would have given their jacket up so easily." His laugh boomed throughout the forest at his tease, and Sakura chuckled slightly. Naruto was such an idiot.
"Alright, can we keep it down, love-birds?" Kakashi's voice matched the trill of the wind, faintly heard in the distance. Sakura blushed and whispered back to the air, "NOT love-birds…"
Sakura sighed and hurriedly started running again to catch up with her group, Naruto already well ahead of her and Kakashi nearly out of sight through the thick trees. Had she been acting differently towards Naruto? Sakura's mind began to wander back to July, the night when she and Naruto had snuck away from the group to discuss the Nine-Tailed Fox and what happened on the bridge with Orochimaru and Kabuto.
"I know I did this…" Naruto's voice sounded hollow as he slowly traced the faded scars on her arm. His fingers felt like phantoms on her skin, barely making contact. Sakura studied his expression, the way his eyes never left the scars, his mouth turned downward and the slight tears forming around his blue eyes, making them appear like the deepest parts of the ocean.
Sakura slowly reached her finger towards his cheek, catching the tears as they rolled down his face. Naruto breathed in through his mouth, the air catching in his throat with a pained hiccup escaping. His fingers fell off her arm then, the absence of them making Sakura slightly shiver as Naruto's head fell into the crook of her neck. His body was shaking, the gutteral sounds in his throat becoming increasingly more rapid now as he cried into her neck.
"It's okay, Naruto," she whispered, her arms wrapping around him and her hands running through his blonde hair. "It's okay." They stayed like that until Naruto was able to compose himself, finally peeking at her, his eyes piercing into hers with the fiery determination she had grown used to over the years.
"I won't let it happen again," he said with a ragged breath. "I will never use him again."
"We'll stop here for the night." Kakashi's voice was soft, but the sound of it boomed throughout Sakura's eardrums, yanking her out of her thoughts. She stopped clumsily, losing her footing and gripping onto the edge of a tree trunk for balance. She saw Kakashi's eyebrow furrow at her movement, but luckily he didn't say anything to her.
"Y-yes, Kakashi-sensei," She sighed. Come on, get a grip.
Sakura swung her backpack around to her front, setting it on the grass as she got on one knee, pulling out her sleeping bag. She started sprawling it out underneath the tree, trying not to eye Naruto for fear that Kakashi would see and make another unnecessary comment. This is ridiculous, she thought, am I seriously actively avoiding even looking at Naruto now? She shook her head slightly, her blush-colored hair messily falling around her face, running her hands through it to slick it back again.
She looked up at the sky, taking in the full light of the moon. There were no clouds anymore, the sky instead filled with stars, crickets starting to chirp their songs of the night. Sakura glanced over at Kakashi who was setting up his sleeping bag under the tree across from her, while Naruto put his sleeping bag under the tree to her left. She noticed Naruto's tree was slightly farther away from Kakashi's in relation to her, the distance between them seeming incredibly great to her now. Naruto had taken to being as far away as he could after the events on the bridge - distant, but close enough to jump in if help was needed.
Sakura yearned to help him. As a medical ninja, it was in her nature to soothe the pain of others, physical or emotional, but Naruto was… determined. When she closed the distance, he would re-open it after her mind went black with the exhaustion of the day, only noticing the gap between them had reemerged in the night while her subconscious was engulfed in dreams of red eyes meeting hers, a rush of heat digging into her arm, blood rushing through the wounds and her hand covering up the area, desperate to stop the bleeding as flames enveloped her vision…
"Earth to Sakura," She blinked, looking left towards Naruto as he let out an exasperated sigh. "Do you want to help me get the firewood or not?"
"Oh," Sakura mumbled, "Sure. Sorry, Naruto, my mind must have been somewhere else." She smiled at him delicately, trying to suppress the memory. She noticed his eyes grow colder momentarily, staring deeply in hers, searching for a reason to go at it alone. But he had already asked.
Naruto's eyes lowered away from hers as he bit his lip, sighing again. Sakura could see the regret in his expression, wishing he hadn't offered for her to come along. He hadn't been alone with her since that hot summer night, the heat amplified by her body pressed to his, her hands in his hair, whispering reassurances through the vibrato of the croaking frogs.
They walked through the forest together, gathering various sticks and branches along the way, not talking. The silence was getting to Sakura, the only noises between their breathing being those of sticks breaking under their feet and owls hooting in the distance as if the forest knew of their tension, the animals scattered away in their hideouts, watching from the darkness.
"I think this is enough." Naruto's voice cut through the humid air like a kunai aimed for your face. "Don't you?" He looked at her. She gasped.
His eyes twinkled in the cloudless starlight, electric blue piercing through the darkness. Sakura made sure to maintain eye contact with him, not wavering, reassuring him that nothing had changed between them.
"Yeah, I agree." She said confidently. "But.." she trailed off, looking down for a moment before quickly looking back at him, his expression not changing, "Maybe we can sit for a while before going back? Kakashi won't mind, he's probably too busy reading to keep track of the time anyhow." Silence.
Sakura stared at him, allowing his ocean eyes to drown her. They stood there for an eternity, unmoving, the humidity and the quiet slowly suffocating them until Naruto silently nodded, freeing them of their silent shackles. They placed the sticks and twigs into a pile and laid on the grass, Naruto just slightly out of arm's reach. Naruto's gaze stayed on the sky as Sakura watched his face tense up, sensing her watching him. She watched his internal struggle for a moment, before looking upwards towards the sky, placing her hands on her stomach.
The ground was cool on her back, cutting through the warmth of Naruto's jacket. She watched the stars, desperately trying to find a constellation she could point out to Naruto to ease his agitation, her breath catching in her throat with anxiety as she sputtered, "See those stars up there?" she awkwardly pointed to a bunch of random stars, knowing she wasn't being specific enough. "Uh, the three in a triangle with all those little stars trailing behind?" she asked dumbly.
Naruto blinked and followed her hand with his eyes, scanning the sky for any resemblance to her description before landing on the triangle-shape. "Um," he stated flatly, "Yes?"
"Well," she said proudly, lowering her hands back to her stomach, "You just found the kite-constellation." She glanced over at Naruto's face and watched his expression change from confusion to a wide grin before he let out hushed laughter.
"The… kite-constellation?" He looked towards her, still smiling, "You're one of the brightest ninja in our class, and that's the best you could come up with?"
Sakura laughed at herself quietly, thinking about how stupid what she just said was, letting the awkwardness of the past few months fully wash over her before she succumbed to a suppressed, deep belly-laugh. Her cheeks started to hurt as she doubled over, now laughing about how dumb it was that she was laughing, but completely unable to stop herself.
Her laughter only grew when she heard Naruto begin laughing at her, slowly at first, until she heard him also give in to the desperate need for release after the immense amount of stress he had put himself through.
They both laid there, curled into balls facing each other now, laughing hysterically and crying. Naruto desperately tried wiping away the tears, which only made him laugh even harder, and looking at Sakura to see her face scrunched up in a huge grin only made things worse. After a few minutes, they both finally came down from their highs, until they were both laying on their sides, looking at each other, Naruto within her grasp.
She reached her hand out, brushing the messy wisps of blonde hairs out of his face, noticing the way his face furrowed under her touch. She pulled her hand away quickly and watched it twitch with pained regret, knowing she shouldn't have made the first move. Naruto's eyes found hers with an apologetic look as he grabbed her hand in his and pulled it to the grass, his fingers intertwining between hers.
Heat rushed up through her body at his touch, his fingers feeling like small flames between her own. She felt her cheeks grow hot as she looked at Naruto, his eyes thankfully locked onto their hands in the grass. They were encased in the stillness of the forest now, their bodies unmoving, their fingers locked together tightly like a forgotten, rusted chain.
Naruto's eyes darted from their hands into her own, trapping himself in her seafoam cell, his shoulders tensing up as he abruptly unlocked his hand from hers, the frigid air seeping between her fingers as his flamed-hands left hers cold.
"We should get back." He stated thickly, his voice soft and low.
Sakura adjusted to the cold again, balling her hand into a fist on the grass, nodding in agreement.
The pair emerged from the trees, Kakashi's eyes locked onto them from above his book. "Welcome back, you two." He said smugly. "Did you get lost?"
Sakura's face flushed, but Naruto's response was quick "WHAT? No, Kakashi-sensei, you know us better than that by now! Do you really think we would get lost out there?"
Kakashi chuckled lowly as he swiftly closed his book. "No, you're right. I appreciate you two taking your time since it allowed me to finish the latest installment. Now," he intertwined his fingers together and pulled his hands forward, his knuckles slightly popping, "Let's get this fire started so we can eat!"
The group enjoyed a small but hearty meal by the campfire, discussing the events of their mission. Sakura noticed the shift in the air after her and Naruto's getaway earlier. The heaviness had evaporated, leaving her feeling light and breathable again. Naruto sat next to her, his arm brushing against hers on occasion as he reached for more food from the fire.
"Kakashi," Sakura mumbled between bites of rice, "I know that we are going straight to the Water Temple in the morning, but I promised Sai I would bring him back some watercolor paint and-"
"I am very disappointed in you, Sakura." Kakashi's harsh words dug into her mind like venom entering your bloodstream. "Are you even focussed on this mission?" Kakashi sighed, slightly agitated. They had both grown up and matured, and yet…
"Y-yes, sensei, you're right. I'm sorry." Sakura looked down at her rice, ashamed, her appetite gone.
"Come on, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto protested, "It's not Sakura's fault. We've all been going on mission after mission, and… well…" Naruto paused, choosing his words carefully. "Well, I understand why they are trying to have some fun… That's all."
Kakashi was very still until he murmured, "You're right, Naruto. You all have been through a lot." He put his bowl of rice down then and stood up, brushing the dirt from his clothes and said, "I'm going to sleep now. I suggest you two do the same. We still have half a day's journey until we reach the Water Temple tomorrow."
With that, the silver haired sensei briskly walked over to his sleeping back. Sakura and Naruto sat together thoughtfully. Naruto took Sakura's bowl of rice from her. "You're done with this, yeah?" He smiled. Sakura nodded and watched him dump the bits of rice left in the bowl into the fire. She felt slightly guilty for not finishing all her food and knew she would most likely regret that tomorrow. She walked over to her sleeping bag as the flame of the fire was put out by Naruto.
Sakura and Naruto fell asleep immediately, finally able to put their months of endless fatigue behind them. They laid on their sides, facing each other, rhythmically breathing in the cool air of the September night.
Sakura's eyes opened slowly, her eyelids heavy with sleep, as the sounds of heavy footsteps approached her, rapidly growing louder with each second. She felt strong arms scoop underneath her legs and waist, hurriedly pulling her up. She saw the blonde of Naruto's hair, her view flooded in its golden hue, her groggy mind trying to catch up with her vision as she heard his familiar voice crumble with a slight edge of anxiety as he whispered, "Sakura, wake up!"
"Quickly, Naruto!" Kakashi's voice came out in a raspy whisper, barely loud enough for Sakura to hear in her sleepy haze. She felt air on her face as she heard Naruto land with a soft thud, her mind finally comprehending the situation as she shakily whispered into his ear, "An ambush?"
Author's Note:
Thank you for reading! This is my first fanfiction in a veryyyy long time, and my first NaruSaku ever. If you liked it, I would appreciate any interaction with the story that you're willing to give! I will be updating this as frequently as possible, hopefully once a week. I am rather obsessed with Naruto again, and NaruSaku not being canon really breaks my heart (Sorry, NaruHina supporters! Though if you're one of them, not sure why you're here anyway... lol.) Any feedback is much appreciated!