Chapter 17
It was midnight, and Naruto felt exhausted. After that supremely awkward spin the bottle game wrapped up, everyone played video games and watched a movie while eating junk for the rest of the party. And that was how Naruto ended up snoring on Kiba's shoulders as the credits rolled on the screen.
"Naruto, wake up man." Kiba gently shrugged his shoulders, trying to wake the blond up, but to no prevail. Gritting his teeth, he shrugged harder, making Naruto's head jostle up and down.
"Wake up, damn it!" Naruto's face scrunched up cutely as he slowly came to. Squinting at the bright light that had filled the room, Naruto rubbed the sleep out of his blue orbs.
"Wh-what are you doing at my house, Kiba?" Naruto yawned, completely out of it. With zombie-like movements, he slowly stood up and headed in a random direction.
"Oi! Where the hell are you going?" Kiba stood up and ran after him, concerned. Do normal people wake up this confused?
Naruto waved lethargically back at him and Kiba could have sworn his eyes were still closed. Oh no, that's not good...
BAM!
"OW! Who the fuck put a wall in front of my bathroom?" Naruto yelled, his eyes snapping open as he fell backwards into an awaiting Kiba.
"You moron, this isn't your house!" Kiba conked Naruto on the head for being so airy.
Naruto blinked, hearing the snickers coming from around him. His face flushed as he remembered just where he was. "I-I knew that!"
Kiba rolled his eyes, not believing it a bit. "Yeah yeah. Come on, party's over. It's almost midnight."
Naruto nodded numbly, eyes darting to the clock hanging conveniently right on the wall in front of him. It was indeed almost midnight; eleven forty seven to be exact.
"Naruto! It has been a pleasure bonding with you today!" Lee, of course, bounded up and, snatching Naruto's hand in his and giving it a million hearty shakes. To everyone's amusement, Naruto's whole body was forcefully swung to Lee's hyperactive shaking.
"Back off, you green beast!" Kiba yelled, snatching Naruto out of his strong grip before anymore head trauma could be caused.
"Beast...beast..." Lee's eyes widened, as if mortified. Feeling a bit bad, Kiba opened his mouth to apologize but was cut off by an ear-splitting whoop. "WHOOOOOO! THAT SOUNDS SO YOUTHFUL! FROM THIS DAY FORWARD, I AM THE GREEN BEAST OF KONOHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" After laughing hysterically, Lee struck his pose, flashed his teeth for a few minutes, and darted out of there, still laughing his head off. A tapestry on the wall crashed down to the floor as the door banged shut. Everyone just stared, wondering if this was a good or bad omen...probably bad. Lee and beast in the same sentence couldn't possibly be good.
"So uh, disregarding that...see you guys tomorrow." Shikamaru yawned, and headed out too. Chouji nodded in agreement and hurried out too, followed by Ino. Tenten gave a peck on the cheek to Neji, then Naruto (who turned bright red...again), and also walked out.
Swallowing his fear, Naruto walked over to Neji who was conversing with Gaara quietly in a corner. Kiba almost grabbed onto him; he was walking right into the lion's den! But he stopped himself in time, seeing the determined look on Naruto's face.
Both Gaara and Neji's heads snapped towards Naruto when he cleared his throat. Neji smiled and walked closer while Gaara squirmed (on the inside, duh) and kept staring at the blond.
"Yes, Naruto? May I help you?"
Naruto cleared his throat again and shuffled around on his feet. "Uh...ummm...I just uh, wanted to thank you Neji, for letting me come to this party. So um...thank you," Naruto finished lamely, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. Neji smiled at the cute gesture.
"No problem Naruto. The next time I have a party, I'll invite you again."
Naruto smiled at that. "Really? Promise?"
Neji laughed at the childishness. "Yeah, promise. Pinky swear?"
Naruto nodded and they joined pinkies. Unwillingly, a huge grin appeared on Naruto's face at such a simple but sweet action. With new confidence and a warm feeling in his chest, Naruto turned to Gaara, who looked apprehensively at the approaching blond.
"Gaara." Naruto paused, gathering his thoughts. During that time, Gaara held his breath, not really wanting to know what would come out of those luscious lips.
"I forgive you."
"I—what?" Gaara said dumbly, not believing what he was hearing.
"I forgive you." Naruto repeated, his face melting into a warm smile. Gaara just stared. Somewhere in the background, Kiba also yelled "what?"
"R-really?" Gaara whispered out, stepping closer. Naruto nodded, not noticing their slowly decreasing distance until Gaara had him wrapped in a huge bear hug. "Thank you..." Gaara murmured into Naruto's silky hair as he relished in the feeling of holding him again. His breath ghosting over Naruto's ear made him shiver, but he pushed the feeling down into the back of his conscious.
"B-but you still owe me like, a million bowls of ramen. So I'll be counting on you for that." Naruto laughed into Gaara's shoulder, slowly backing out of the hug which Gaara complied to. With one last dazzling smile, Naruto waved goodbye and dragged Kiba and Sai out.
Gaara smiled. This party actually turned out for the best. He left in a daze, still thanking the heavens that he was forgiven.
Neji, on the other hand, wasn't quite so peachy right now.
"I'M LATE!" The birds started from their nests, their little hearts beating erratically at the horribly loud shout that thundered throughout the neighbourhood. Before long, a storm cloud shot past at a dizzying pace headed toward Konoha High. Oh wait; it's just that blond kid that recently moved here. Annoyed, the birds settled back on top of their off springs and went back to sleep.
A few minutes later, the blond had stormed through the doors in a frenzy and headed down thinning hallways towards homeroom. Seeing his goal right down the hall, his eyes lit up happily. One minute until the late bell rings! He could make it!
"Oomph!"
Or not. Naruto fell on top of someone that just had to choose that time to pop out of nowhere. With a yelp, the person went down too.
Naruto pushed himself up, but stopped abruptly as he felt something...soft...and squishy underneath his fingers. He squeezed once more, just to test if it was what he was hoping to dear God it's not. Squeeze. Nope, it's definitely that.
"!" Naruto hastily got up and backed off of the female on the floor. He stuttered an apology as the girl got up indignantly and slapped him in the face. His face stinging, he looked up to see the fuming face of none other than Haruno Sakura.
"I-I'm REALLY sorry, Sakura-chan! I didn't mean too! It was an accident, I swear! You- I- didn't mean...Sorry!" His words were jumbled as he tried his hardest to console the furious girl, but it was fruitless.
"Uzumaki! How DARE you defile a maiden! No matter how much you may WANT me, it's not right to...to...GROPE me! UGH! Disgusting! I got touched by you!" She spat that out particularly harsh, her glare drilling into Naruto's trembling frame. Hearing no response coming from the blond, Sakura turned around intending to go tell on him, but was stopped as she ran right into something hard. And fleshy.
"Going somewhere, cutie?" Her arm was grabbed roughly as she was jerked back, her face coming within inches of her captor. With a gulp, Sakura took in the millions of piercings on the man's face. It was frightening, to say the least.
"Boss, that's the guy!" One of the crew of gang members piped up, pointing to the blond staring wide-eyed at this whole thing.
"You lot got beat up by this shrimp?" The guy that was apparently the leader sneered, eyeing Naruto. "He's such a priss, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"H-he packs a damn good punch though! Him and Kiba too!"
"Where's Kiba?" The leader asked.
"Not here, sir!"
The leader shot the speaker a scalding glare. "Obviously, asswipe. Now tell me, where is he?"
"Probably in class, s-sir!" Another piped up, shaking visibly. The leader snorted and took the cigarette out of his mouth, blowing a pungent puff of smoke into Sakura's face. She coughed unpleasantly, holding back tears as the grip on her wrists tightened. "Oh well, this one will have to do." He looked over at Naruto again.
"You two," he pointed at two of his cronies, "get the blondie there. Bring his bitch too." The two he pointed at scurried over to where Naruto was and took a hold of the blond who was still too stunned to do much of anything right now. They heaved him up and followed their boss out of the school. Somewhere deep in Naruto's fear stricken mind he wondered where the hell security was.
When they had brought Naruto and Sakura to the shady back of the school building, they were roughly tossed onto a giant pile of trash.
"It's payback time, blondie," the leader sneered at the small blond, sizing him up in his mind. Hah, this kid was nothing. He'd beat him up in a second. Jeez, his cronies are so retarded.
"But...how about I receive a little kiss from this 'maiden' here first, hmm?" he leered at a quivering Sakura, quoting her previous words. "I just might not kill you both."
"No...please!" Sakura pleaded, tears streaming out in rivers, her lower lip trembling. She was going to die, and it would all be that stupid Uzumaki's fault! He dragged her here! "I don't have anything to do with Uzumaki! He's pathetic! I don't even know him!" She tried fruitlessly, trying to save her own life.
"Haha! Your bitch is backing out on you, Uzumaki! Hear that? Nice try cutie, but you're not going anywhere until I get my kiss."
"Please, I—" The boss suddenly grabbed Sakura's face and forced his lips down, barely missing her mouth as she frantically turned to the side. She really started crying now, her thoughts going as far as rape.
"Come on, you bitch. Give me a big one like the ho you are!" The man growled and forced himself on her again.
Except this time, he felt his head get snapped to the side in a mind-blowing punch. Stumbling back, he eyes darted wildly to the now standing blond, his hand out still in the shape of a fist. Wiping a trail of blood from the side of his mouth, he growled menacingly.
"You'll pay for that, blondie." He flicked his wrists, signalling his minions to take the blond on, which they did with malice in their cold eyes. Only slightly noticing the way that the blond dodged the hits aimed at him expertly, the boss pulled Sakura up and into his chest, a hand on her delicate throat.
Naruto, seeing the dangerous position Sakura was in, yelled madly, "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER, YOU BASTARD! GET AWAY!" He rushed towards the tall man, but was cut off by two of his cronies. With an almost animal howl, he took them both out with a flurry of punches and kicks, shocking the boss. Seeing the blond in a threatening light now, the man growled and threw Sakura to the side, unintentionally banging her head on the side of a dumpster and knocking her out cold.
And the fight was on.
Something didn't feel right. Something was definitely off. Was it the cloudy skies today? The abnormal silence in the air? The absence of one Uzumaki Naruto and one Haruno Sakura? Or was it the fact that he was still pissed at his retarded brother? Sasuke had no idea, but the air inside the classroom was stifling. He needed out. Now.
"I need to go to the office, Kakashi." Their homeroom teacher looked up at Sasuke who had walked to his desk. With a nod of approval, he let him go. Of course he trusted Sasuke; everyone did.
Where should I go? Sasuke wondered to himself as he walked outside. The roof? He looked up at the increasingly gray clouds. Nah, I'll probably get rained on. He put his finger in his mouth and wet it, then took it out and stuck it in the air. Westward wind. The back of the school would be a nice secluded spot, and the rain won't get on me there. Sasuke nodded to himself and headed to the back.
On the way to his second favourite hideout, he spotted a dead squirrel. Uh oh, bad omen. He felt goose bumps rising on his arms, and he unconsciously shivered. Something really wasn't right... He had a bad foreboding sensation creeping up his spine...
Pant...pants... Sasuke stiffened, hearing the sounds coming from behind the school.
"Ughhh..." Was someone dying back there? Sasuke wondered, slowly inching towards the sound.
Cough. Sasuke stopped listening to the person coughing. It had...a bit of a...fluidy sound to it...
Oh no, don't tell me someone's getting head back there. Sasuke snarled, really not liking the idea of his hideout being used for something disgusting like that. Another groan.
Furiously, Sasuke got over his suspicion and decided to just storm into their little make out session and kick them out. And that's what he did. Except what he actually saw wasn't what he pictured at all.
He gasped to himself. There were unconscious bloody bodies strewn everywhere and a dozen dents in garbage bins. And there, in the middle, struggling to lift up Sakura, was a very bloodied and bruised Naruto. Behind him laid the unconscious corpse of a renowned gang boss around this area, his hands still clutching a bloody pocket knife.
"Naruto!" Sasuke heard himself call out, rushing towards the blond. Sure, he didn't particularly like the kid, or the pink-haired girl he was helping, but all this blood made him take action.
Naruto's head snapped up at his name, surprised to see Sasuke running to him. With a grimace, he stood up unsteadily, the motionless girl draped over his trembling shoulder. Sasuke, now up close, could see a myriad of cuts all over the blonde's body. One particularly nasty one was on the side of his hip, and it was dripping blood in pools.
"S-Sasuke..." the blond ground out, hobbling forwards a few steps and wincing in pain."T-take Sakura...p-please..."
Sasuke lifted the unconscious Sakura off of Naruto, who promptly fell down and fainted due to lack of blood. Sasuke looked wide-eyed at the blond boy, then around at their surroundings.
Wow...this kid beat twelve people all by himself...and a famous gang leader armed with a knife...
Sasuke found new respect for this seemingly frail looking kid.
Sakura's eyes slowly blinked open. She stared up into the white ceiling above her, letting the pounding in her head slowly reside before sitting up. She looked around. She was in the school's hospital. With a stretch of her limbs, she jumped down, then fell back onto the bed as her head gave a pang of pain.
"Owwwwwwwww!" She rubbed her head, feeling a huge bump there. Oh yeah, I got dragged into Uzumaki's stupid little gang fights. She huffed, then looked up out of the crack in the curtains surrounding her bed.
Her eyes widened. With a loud squeal, she jumped down, completely ignoring her headache, and rushed towards the back of one certain Uchiha she could see. Without even looking at anything else, she buried her head in his back and her arms wrapped around his waist.
"Sasuke-kun! You saved me from those bad guys, didn't you? Oh, I knew you actually liked me! Thank you so much, Sasuke-kun, I'll do anything you—"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
Sakura stuttered to a halt, her eyes widening and she hastily unwound her arms. Sasuke turned around with such hatred in his eyes that Sakura felt a tear slip down her face.
"I don't know where the fuck you got the idea that I saved you, but you better shut the fuck up right now. If Uzumaki hadn't risked his own life to save your pathetic worthless ass, I'd do the world a favour and kill you right now!" Sasuke sneered out, his eyes burning holes through Sakura fearful ones.
"W-what? B-but I thought...you...me...Naruto?" And then she saw him. Naruto. Covered in bandages and breathing through a tube.
Her eyes widened again to impossible diameters as she stared at the fragile boy laying there that had supposedly saved her.
"H-he saved me? All by himself, against all those people?" Sakura croaked out, feeling tears coming to her again.
"Hn. Yes. And I'm glad he's not awake right now to see you thanking me for being your 'saviour'. I'm not sure he can take much more damage from you."
"I-I'm so sorry...I didn't know...I..."
"You know, he lost almost all of the blood he can lose without dying, and still he carried your body to me. Only when you were safe did he pass out." Sasuke informed in a degrading voice, still glaring at the girl who gasped in shock.
Hurriedly, Sakura ran to the side of the sleeping blond, tears falling freely now. Even though she had treated him so badly, this kid...he still did everything in his power to make sure she was safe...
"Naruto...I'm so sorry...I...I'll make it up to you, I will. So please, forgive me...forgive me..." She dropped her head onto her arms and leaned on Naruto's bed, bawling. Sasuke, not really wanting to witness this, walked away, a small smile on his face (though he had absolutely no idea why).
So Sakura cried. And cried, and cried, and cried. It was like she was purging herself of every sin she had done before; all those times she had blindly and selfishly stepped on others for her own gain. Naruto knocked this sense into her; he showed her that there really were people that genuinely cared about others, no matter what. And it had been so long since Sakura had seen goodness this pure.
This cathartic sobbing of hers eventually woke up the blond though, who cutely blinked his eyes open to look down at the shaking head of pink hair.
"S-Sakura-chan?" He mumbled, his voice a bit hoarse. Sakura's head shot up, her face red and puffy with crying.
"N-Naruto! I'm so sorry!" She bit back tears as Naruto smiled warmly at her.
"F-for what, Sakura-c-chan?" He sounded really frail right now. This just increased the guilty feeling in Sakura, making her sob harder.
"For everything! For being so mean to you! For being so mean to everyone! Naruto, please forgive me!" Sakura sobbed, holding onto Naruto's warm hand. He just smiled down at Sakura and for a second, she thought she saw a halo of light around his head.
"I forgive you, Sakura. I-it's okay..." His eyelid slowly drooped as he slowly lulled back to sleep.
Sakura stared, unblinkingly, at the angelic figure next to her. With a small, relieved smile, she kissed the blond on the forehead.
"Naruto...you're an angel. A God." She smiled. That sounded about right.
"Naruto...you're my little Sun God." And Sakura fell asleep next to him too.
...
Still the work of xXCabbageXx.
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