She had to keep moving. The pain on her legs was slowing her down but there were only a few meters separating her form the bridge. She could make it and then cut the ropes to stop these guys from following her. She underestimated them. Just because they weren't at war it didn't mean that she could let her guard down. She jumped through the tree branches as fast as she could, her breathing becoming increasingly laboured. Finally, she caught sight of the bridge that crossed the ravine. Using a last spurt of adrenaline, she forced her legs to move faster. The bandit was almost catching up to her. She couldn't let him catch her and get the scroll the kazekage entrusted her. She ran to the bridge and tried to put more distance between them but at the last minute she tripped. Her legs stopped responding. "Shit!"
The man started laughing while slowly approaching her. "Ah! I thought I'd never catch you! Looks like even the Leaf's Pink Wrestler isn't immune to poison, huh?"
She looked around her and examined her surroundings. Running away wasn't an option. She could use the byakugou. Or maybe… She only hoped it worked. She joined her hands forming the standard hand seal for simple jutsus.
"What are you gonna do? We did our research on you, Sakura-sama. You're useless in long-distance fights. I just had to wait until your legs succumbed to the poison. Now you're ours. Let's see how much the Sixth Hokage is willing to pay for your ransom." He laughed out loud again.
She smirked. "Oh, yeah? You should tell your friends to update their sources."
He looked at her in confusion. Suddenly, two hands grabbed his feet and pulled him towards the earth. He yelled and struggled to get away from their hold. "W-what's this?!" The hands pulled him harder, forcing him under the ground. "Stop! Stop this!" Sakura got up and walked until she was right in front of him. She then grabbed his head and forced him even deeper until only his head was above the ground. She was dead serious. That's for messing with our village and our allies. His body was pulled again, and he was completely underground struggling to breathe and to get above-ground.
Sakura opened her eyes. She was sitting with her legs sprawled in front of her. The bandit was unconscious in front of her. She let out a sigh of relief. "It worked…" She looked behind her looking for her teammates. There was no sign of them. She inspected her legs. She couldn't extract the poison herself; she didn't have the time for that right now, but she could stimulate her circulation with chackra until she reached the border and Shizune or Tsunade would take care of the antidote once they got to the village. She slowly experimented increasing her chackra on her legs and it worked when she reached a reasonably high amount of chackra. She wouldn't be able to keep this for long. She tried getting up and found she was able to do so. Then, she headed to the border before the bandit's group noticed he was gone for too long. It shouldn't take her long to reach their meeting point. Just a little longer.
Her legs started to fail her again and her vision was getting clouded. Her chackra reserves were almost over. She tipped her tongue. Just a little longer!
After two more minutes, she finally saw the river that separated the Fire Country from the Wind Country. "Thank Goodness." After a few leaps, she spotted two men, one with brown hair and one with blonde hair. She started walking when she reached the clearing where they stood, only her vision became clouded again and her legs stopped responding once more. They jumped to catch her as soon as they saw her.
They called out to her. It was the last thing she heard before falling asleep.
Her head hurt. All her body felt so heavy. She could hear Tsunade-sama's voice.
"Sakura, wake up. Come on."
She knew that tone. It was the tone she used when Sakura overworked herself. She wasn't mad, but she was going to hear a big lecture. But first she had to open her eyes. If only her eyelids weren't so heavy. She put all her efforts on opening her eyes. After what seemed like a good five minutes, she finally managed to open them.
The woman received an overload of light. Right in front of her, she saw Tsunade-sama letting out a sigh of relief.
"Sakura, can you speak?"
She experimented moving her mouth and found it surprisingly easy compared to opening her eyes. "Yeah." She muttered.
Tsunade suddenly hugged her. Sakura frowned in confusion. "Tsunade-sama?"
"You scared us, Sakura." She muttered. "You have to be more careful."
"I'm sorry…"
Tsunade moved away at this and sat on a chair by her side.
"Did Kakashi-sensei get the scroll?" Sakura asked timidly.
Tsunade nodded. "Indeed. You did a good job." She paused. "However, you're not allowed to take any missions or work until you are completely healed and well-rested."
"Yes…" she mumbled.
"You'll be discharged from the hospital this afternoon, but Naruto will guarantee that you go home and get the rest you need."
"Tsunade-sama, I believe there's no need for him to…"
"That's an order!"
Sakura slowly walked a few meters behind her best friend. She looked at his back feeling a pang of guilt. She knew she had been stupid and reckless. She could have just used her byakugou and neutralized the poison, but they were there for her, so she didn't think it would be necessary. Now, however, she was feeling awful. If it was her on his position, she would never let him hear the end of it. To top it all up, this happened only a few days after they talked about their bad dreams so she knew how frightened he must have been for her.
The moon was shining bright on the dark sky, but the wind was soft. It looked nothing like the night the small kid had passed away. She still thought about him whenever she was near the gate or when she looked at the moon. There was no moonlight that night.
When they reached the entrance of her house, her teammate stopped without turning around to face her. She waited for him to move or do anything at all. When he didn't, she spoke. "Naruto?"
His shoulders moved up and down. She could see he was tense. After a few seconds, he turned to her. She could see the worry show through his closed face. His eyes kept drifting from his feet to her face to their surroundings. He was making her nervous. "Just spill i-" She started.
Suddenly, he was hugging her. "I'm so glad you're ok." He whispered.
She didn't dare move. "Naruto…" He tightened the hug, and she could feel him shaking. The woman hugged him back and rested her head against his chest. "I'm fine now." She could feel him nod. She tightened her grip on his back. She hadn't noticed until now, but he had grown taller. Before she realized it, she opened her mouth. "You think you'll have nightmares because of me?"
It took him a few moments to answer. He whispered something along the lines of "I hope not…"
Sakura responded again without even thinking. "You wanna stay here just for tonight?" She could feel him nod again before asking if she was sure.
"Yeah, I could use the company."
They finally moved away and fell into a comfortable silence. It was weird for her thinking that Naruto could actually be so quiet once you get to know him beyond the happy façade he put up for normal acquaintances. It was like he was a completely different person than what he appeared to be. He was always so cheerful, except that he wasn't, really. He waited while she unlocked the door and followed her to the flat on the second floor. Before opening the door, she turned to him "Ok, just to warn you, the house is a little messy right now." She chuckled nervously.
He merely shrugged, still looking a bit disturbed. She opened the door that gave direct access to the living room. It wasn't an overstatement. The room was a mess. There were books, scrolls, and blankets everywhere, but Naruto didn't seem to have even registered it. She made space for them on the couch. Her parents weren't home yet. They were both on missions on the village this week so they should get home late. She turned to him, feeling the fatigue getting the best of her. "Care for some tea?" He refused with a headshake.
She sat on the sofa and gestured for him to sit by her side. She let herself slide on her side until her head was resting on the couch arm and her torso was barely touching Naruto. Then it dawned on her that Sasuke didn't even check up on her. She chuckled.
"What's funny?" Naruto asked wearily. By the sound of it, he could barely keep his eyes open.
"Nothing. I was just thinking… But it's stupid."
The man mimicked her voice. "Just spill it."
She laughed. "Fine. It's just…" She paused trying to find a way to phrase what she meant. "Do you think Sasuke would care if I got hurt?"
She felt the tension building up in the air again. Naruto took some time to answer her. "I think he would. A lot."
"I see…" She mused. "Thank you for being here with me, Naruto." She stretched her arm trying to find his hand. When she felt it, she squeezed it asking for reassurance. He squeezed it back and slowly the two young people fell asleep on the sofa. When Sakura's parents got home, they covered them with one of the blankets in the room before they went to their room.