See I haven't abandoned it, it's just been Christmas and then New Year's, and then restarting a new year of work... But back to quicker updating now, WOOT! Also the naruto episodes have picked up again, so that's always inspiring.
Disclaimer: I really have to put in some OCs just so I can claim something in my stories. The plot is mine the rest is...borrowed.
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Sakura, Naruto Wanderings in mind and body
Konoha Forest, close to Little Twin River
Naruto scratched his head. He was confused to say the least. Not about the mission, the mission was going okay. They had Pakkun, though he wan't doing anything yet, and they had Hinata, and Kiba, and Shino. They were one of the best tracking teams Konoha had. But they weren't behaving normally. He just couldn't figure out what it was that made him think it.
At first he'd thought that maybe they were uncomfortable with looking for Sasuke. But that was stupid, and they were doing everything they could to uncover the trail. It was something else, he opened his mouth to ask Sakura what she thought when he noticed how red her eyes were.
She sat beside him, Pakkun on her lap. Pakkun was shivering with cold though Sakura had covered him with a coat. She stroked him softly easing his shivers with her own chakra. Naruto leaned over and pressed his shoulder against hers.
"He's gotten worse." Sakura said without looking up.
"Pakkun?" Naruto asked, looking down at the dog worriedly.
Sakura shook her head.
"Kakashi-sensei. He almost died while we were on our way here." Sakura whispered.
Naruto's eyes widened, he was always impressed with how much she knew, but this was going beyond expectations.
"How d'ya know?" His voice was hushed as if they were standing next to the bed of their poisoned sensei.
"Pakkun is his summon. His condition reflects his summoner's. To stay here so long Pakkun has to draw Chakra directly from Kakashi-sensei to stay. With Kakashi this ill, and Pakkun having spent this long in our world, both are suffering the same from the poison." Sakura's hands stilled.
"So if Kakashi-sensei gets worse, Pakkun gets worse." Naruto said looking at Pakkun with new worry.
Sakura nodded silently, her hands restarting their stroking. Naruto stood up a frown on his face.
"What's takin' them so long?" He demanded the forest and took one step towards where the team was scouring the forest looking for the trail which had been expertly hidden.
Sakura grabbed an arm and dragged him back down on to the log.
"Don't," She said. "I think we should just let them be for a while."
Naruto looked at curiously.
"What's up?"
"I think they're having a problem." Sakura said, a frown crossing her face. "I get the strangest feeling that it has something to do with us."
Naruto gave a short bark of laughter. Sakura gave him a red-eyed glare, and Naruto looked down at her sheepishly.
"I was thinkin' it might've been Sasuke that was givin' them the heebie jeebies." Naruto confessed.
Sakura sighed, she leaned down and kissed Pakkun's head. He whined a little, then seemed to settle down confortably.
"Do you think people will ever forgive him?" Sakura asked, more to hide how impatient she was to get going than to really discuss things.
"Sure, I mean people got over me, mostly." Naruto sat down again. "It's better that he's with us, in Konoha, better than anything else he could be doing."
"I suppose so." Sakura said, her voice full of indecision.
Naruto shifted closer and hooked his arm around her waist. He held his breath, waiting to see if she would smack him one. But she just shifted a little closer and leaned into his warmth. Breathing out Naruto tightened his arm and rested his head on hers, one hand starting to stroke Pakkun as well.
That was how Hinata found them, cuddled together in their own little world.
NightHinata stalked through the trees around the campsite. Okay, they were supposed to be careful about security, they were hunting Sound nin, who had a disturbing capacity to infiltrate Konoha territory, but the way she was feeling right now she'd welcome the chance. Hinata was in one of her rare rages. They tended to be so quiet that noone noticed the change from shy, gentle Hinata to deadly, angry Hinata, but that wasn't her problem.
They only changes were things that only someone who knew her well would notice. A hard set to her face, the way her normally soft mouth was pressed into a line, the way her normally skittering gaze was focused on one point, the way she'd stopped blushing. Shino and Kiba knew this face, this was her battle face. This was her 'I've had enough of being underestimated, get ready for pain' look. She was only looking for a target.
Only she couldn't find one. If she tried to work off her anger someone would ask her what was wrong and that would require answers. Answers she didn't want to give, especially in front of Naruto, or worse, Sakura. She wished that Kurenai-sensei was here, she had a sympathetic shoulder and didn't ask too many questions.
Turning a corner so she didn't walk too far away from camp she came to a dead stop.
Sakura sat against a tree Pakkun in her lap. Hinata thought she might be sleeping. Sakura's head hung against her chest and her hands lay as if dead against the ground. Hinata almost jumped as Sakura's head rose and the two kunoichi stared at each other.
Long moments passed, Hinata's face was passive though her eyes slipped away and back from Sakura's face, but Sakura's face was blotchy with tears. Sakura's eyes were puffy and she blinked slowly. Hinata noticed that Sakura's bottom lip was bloodied as Sakura scrubbed her face hastily. Slowly almost against her will Hinata felt her feet taking her towards Sakura. A small part of her empathised with Sakura, with anyone in pain. A large part of her railed against her own movement. Sakura was her unknowing rival, the reason that Naruto had never looked at her with anything other than friendship. It was Sakura, she should just turn around and walk away.
So why was she sitting down beside Sakura so meekly, as if she cared for how the pink haired, Naruto stealing kunoichi felt? She glanced down at Pakkun and felt a stab of pain as she saw how grey and worn he looked. She understood the close tie between summoner and summon, understood what Pakkun's condition meant.
"Is he getting worse?" Hinata whispered.
Sakura nodded. Shaking her hair back from her face, Sakura looked up at the leaves outlined in silver moonlight. She felt slightly ashamed now, crying at her age in the middle of a mission. Tsunade-sama herself was looking after Kakashi-sensei, she had nothing to do other than complete her mission and bring Sasuke home. But she felt better, lighter, her crying fit had finally carried away the turmoil in her stomach.
"Is there anything I can do?" Hinata asked, twisting her fingers together.
"No." Sakura said calmly. "After all Tsunade-sama is healing him. I guess I just needed a little out time."
Hinata gave a small grimace smile.
"Yeah." Hinata whispered. "I know what you mean."
Sakura looked at her and smiled tiredly.
"I wanted to thank you for helping like this." Sakura said, warmly.
Hinata shook her head and wished that Sakura would stop looking at her as if she was a friend. Sakura had no idea that Hinata had resented her for years. Resented her for so easily taking what Hinata wanted so very badly, and treating it with such contempt.
"It's nothing, it's our mission afterall." Hinata explained softly, trying to distance herself from Sakura.
"Yeah, but I know that you guys helping means alot to Naruto." Sakura said smiling softly. "He doesn't have many people he can really count on. Neither does Sasuke-kun."
Hinata dipped her head at the sound of Naruto's name on Sakura's lips.
"Of course Naruto-kun can count on us." Hinata said trying to fill the stretching silence.
If only Sakura didn't notice the unease Hinata felt around her it would be alright.
"Of course, you've always been such good friends to him." Sakura said, too distracted by her thoughts to notice Hinata's reluctance.
"Hinata..." Sakura started, she stopped and bit her lip again.
Hinata sat silently beside her, too timid to simply lie and leave Sakura alone with her thoughts.
"Hinata... do you like Sasuke-kun?" Sakura suddenly blurted out.
As if embarrassed Sakura looked away gathering Pakkun up into her arms again. Hinata's eyes widened in surprise.
"I...I..." Hinata started unsure of what to respond, a blush creeping up her face at the unexpected question.
"Forget it," Sakura said quickly, "it's stupid."
Hinata replied, more from horror what else she might say if she didn't answer the question.
"I don't really know Sasuke, but he is Naruto's friend. And he comes from a respected family." Hinata said shyly as she noticed Sakura looking pained.
"But you don't hate him?" Sakura asked, still not looking at her.
"No, not really, I haven't really thought about it." Hinata replied truthfully.
"Naruto, Kakashi-sensei and I, we're his only family now, and sometimes I wonder if he doesn't feel..." Sakura trailed off definately embarrassed this time.
Hinata sighed. It wasn't something she thought about much, people not having family. Hinata herself sometimes felt she had a little too much family.
"Sometimes you don't need alot of people. Sometimes just one is enough." Hinata whispered, her former unease slipping away as quietly as her earlier rage.
Sakura was clearly so embroiled in her own torments that she wasn't going to notice anyone elses.
As per normal, Hinata thought with a little acid.
"Do you think that Kiba or Shino hate him?" Sakura asked, her voice quiet.
"No." Hinata said, sure now of what Sakura wanted to hear. "None of us hate Sasuke, we just don't know him. Not like you and Naruto-kun know him."
Sakura gave a half smile.
"I guess we are pretty close as a team." Sakura admitted.
The remark bit, and Hinata had to look away to hide the grimace that flashed across her blushing face. It took her a moment to realise she was even going to ask when...
"Do you love him?" Hinata blurted out.
Gasping at her own audacity Hinata covered her mouth, but she didn't move. She had to know once and for all.
Sakura blinked. Of all the people she knew, she'd never thought Hinata would be the one to ask her to clarify her feelings.
"Y-yes." Sakura said, blushing in her turn.
Hinata looked her, her wide, white eyes as luminous as the moon above them.
"No, I mean Naruto-kun." Hinata explained. "Do you love him?"
Sakura smiled half painfully. Lifting up the lax body of Pakkun she pressed her face into his back.
"Yes." She whispered into Pakkun's fur.
Sakura's eyes teared up again, but she ground them down fiercly.
"I do love him." She continued.
Hinata swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat. Then there really was no choice.
"Will you take care of him then?" Hinata asked, fixing her eyes on Pakkun's sleeping face.
"Because he needs it, he's much more fragile, more sensitive than most people think." Hinata babbled feeling her own tears fight to fall.
Hinata, however had much more practice at holding back tears and knew that she would not show such an unslightly act before Sakura. Sensing Sakura's surprised eyes on her burning face, Hinata ploughed on without once raising her eyes.
"Do you promise to love him as much as you can? Because he loves you, you're his world. And he's had nothing for so long and if you're just playing with him because Sasuke won't then..then you should stop, because he doesn't deserve not to be loved and it would be too too cruel...and so I want you to promise." Hinata gulped to a stop.
"I want you to promise to look after him."
Sakura sat mouth open as the longest amount of speech she'd ever heard from Hinata came tumbling out of Hinata's mouth. To top it off Hinata was asking her to take care of Naruto as if Hinata had a stake in it somewhere. Sakura was dense when it came to other people's feelings, but even her density had its end.
"Promise me you'll love him." Hinata whispered.
Because if you can't I swear I'll do whatever it takes to make him love me, I swear I will. Hinata promised silently.
The silence stretched on as things clicked into place for Sakura. She felt her heart squeeze painfully. Sakura knew that if she was in Hinata's place she would never ever be able to give up the man she loved. Possibly never be strong enough to step aside for his happiness, never show half the love that Hinata was showing in this moment. She was shamed and awed by the quiet kunoichi she only barely knew.
Hinata waited her heart beating painfully in her chest. No more going back now, no more turning around, no more holding on to the dreams that had kept her going for most of her life. No more Naruto-kun. No more secretly imagining soft nights, or warm looks. She didn't know yet if she could really give him up to Sakura, but she would try. It was for him.
Hinata gave a start of surprise as Sakura stood up. Expecting Sakura to start yelling at her for sticking her nose into Sakura and Naruto's business she was shocked when Sakura gave a deep bow.
"I promise." Sakura said simply.
Hinata nodded, crushing her eyes closed for a moment she swallowed her tears one more time.
Walking back to the campsite together neither kunoichi spoke, and neither really walked beside the other, but there was understanding. If not yet forgiveness.
In the tent he shared with Kiba and Shino Naruto lay balled up in his blankets twitching in his sleep. If you wanted to make the analogy you could say he resembled a dog dreaming of chasing rabbits. But you'd be wrong, because Naruto was anything except a dog. He was a fox.
On the trailNaruto sucked in a big gasp of air. It whistled past his teeth, cold enough to hurt, but he grinned anyway. Any day he could spend with his friends was a good day. Even if he was worried about Sasuke. But not too worried, because if anyone could take care of himself if was the bastard. He fixed his mind on that thought and bounced over to where Hinata and Sakura were dishing up a hot breakfast.
"Hey, hey! My two favourite ladies serving their heroes food!" He said brightly, plonking himself down beside the fire to warm his cold hands.
Hinata blushed and looked away, Sakura gave him a glare. Confused Naruto scratched the back of his head and considered apologising for something when Shino arrived. As always Naruto managed to be completely surprised by Shino's sudden appearance beside him and prompty fell sideways with a yell.
"Naruto-kun, eat fast. You'll have need of all your strength today." Having finished his speech the insect ninja disappeared as quickly as he'd come.
"How does he do that?" Naruto whined to Sakura.
"Easy, he's a ninja." She said huffily to him.
She thrust a plate at him, and he didn't even take the time to look at it before he started eating.
Idiot, I prepared that specially and you didn't even look at it. Sakura thought grumpily.
"Hinata." Naruto said between mouthfuls. "Kiba wouldn't say anything last night, did you guys find something?"
Hinata nodded.
"They'd tried to cover the trail, but we did manage to narrow the area." She said, cleaning the last of the cooking utensils for packing.
"Ah hah! So we'll be tracking today!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.
Finally something to do.
"Not really, see we also followed the trail to see if it was real or a red herring." Hinata sighed as she polished the spoon in her hand rather than look at Naruto.
"It led to a road, the road is covered in tracks, so today again Kiba-kun, Shino-kun and I will be looking for the right path."
Sakura's eyes flicked from Naruto to Hinata and back again.
The idiot really is blind and dumb. Sakura thought to herself, forgetting that she too had been blissfully unaware of Hinata's feelings until last night.
Sakura found herself in a quandry as she tried to decide how she was supposed to act around Naruto now. She'd promised Hinata to love Naruto, but surely it would be cruel to start suddenly acting like Naruto's girlfriend in front of Hinata. And there was still the little matter of her Sasuke obsession. She didn't want to raise Naruto's hopes to high only to risk smashing them when they found Sasuke.
And they would find Sasuke, they would. Because her team never gave up, anything. They were kind of known for it.
Naruto sighed in dissapointment.
"Well I'm still going to help." Naruto said firmly.
"Eh!" Sakura exclaimed as Hinata's face fell a little at the thought.
"I thought you were going to help me train today." Sakura said, grinding a fist into Naruto's
head.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto protested. "We have to help them find Sasuke."
"You think you can out track their team?" Sakura asked, disbelief clear in her voice.
Naruto took on an offended look.
"Hey! I've trained, I can track people!" He protested.
Sakura sniffed in derision.
"Finish your breakfast Naruto, then we'll talk."
Hinata slipped away while the two were bickering over who was going to finish clearing up. It wasn't her idea of a loving relationship, but if Naruto was happy...
Konoha Forest, close to Little Twin RiverKiba snarled as he and Akamaru came up empty except for noses full of dirt. He rubbed at his nose wishing he'd remembered to bring a hanky or tissues. He knew Hinata would have some, but he'd be damned if he spoke to his teammate more than he had to. She'd really pissed him off and he still hadn't decided if he was really going to forgive her.
Hinata worked quietly and efficiently on her side of the chosen area. Checking, discarding and moving on. If she noticed Kiba's behaviour she gave no outward sign.
Between his two teammates Shino sighed. On principal he'd always been against encouraging Kiba in his quest for Hinata. On one side he just never saw it working, Hinata was still in love with Naruto. On the other, team romances were dangerous. Case in point. Shino was not a person to poke into things that weren't his business, well not overtly anyway.
Shino was observant, to the point where people often thought he could read minds. Shino was also gifted with one of the world's best 'bugging' systems.
Since the fateful night of Sakura and Naruto's first date, he'd been bugging Hinata and Kiba. Not continuously as that would have been a serious breach of ninja etiquette. Of course another consideration was that while Kiba and Hinata might not suspect his bugs, their families were another matter. A political issue between the Inuzukus or the Hyuugas and the Aburames was not on his list of goals. However he could not formulate a plan without information. So he bugged them...regularly.
If they ever found out about it they'd kill him, but Aburame was a byword for discreet.
Just until now he understood that Kiba had offered Hinata a gift. What the idiot had forgotton to tell her was that the offer of a Inuzuka dog, even one who was not born with the innate skills of a shinobi dog, was tantamount to an offer of marriage. Surely her family was aware of this tradition. That they had chosen not to politely return the pup confused him.
It was possible that Kiba hadn't intended the dog to be a courting gift, Kiba tended to be very generous, but still... Hinata however had rejected Kiba in favour of Naruto. Who, according to last night's little conversation, she had now given up on in favour of Naruto's continued infactuation with Sakura. Which left his female teammate without either option, and Kiba pissed off.
He was rather hoping that Kiba would cool off, and that Hinata would cheer up and that they could all return to a normal working relationship. He just liked to cover his bets. Kiba needed a new interest and so did Hinata. Shino just needed to find them dates, it couldn't be that hard. One brash loud mouth and one blushing wall flower couldn't be that hard to hook up with someone could they?
Hinata stood up stretching her back. Her Byukyugan wasn't much use in these cases. What they were looking for was so small, so probably ordinary looking that she risked to miss it if she didn't use her normal eyesight. Besides it was unwise to waste her chakra.
They were busy checking up and down the road for any sign that their prey had left the road. But they weren't finding anything. Even though it was almost winter, it hadn't rained in the last few days and there weren't many distinguishable marks. Alot of caravan wheel marks, some hoof marks, some booted and unbooted footprints. Nothing that said 'running ninja carrying a drugged body'.
They'd followed the trail of broken twigs they'd managed to uncover from the scene of the abduction. Akamaru had even found traces of Sasuke's blood in some of the trees, once the nifty trail covering genjustu had been identified and broken. But the trail stopped at the road's edge and they were fast coming to the conclusion that their targets had hitched a ride with someone.
Seeing Shino give the signal Hinata abandoned her part of the road and went to join him.
"We're going back to camp." Shino said.
Kiba rubbed his nose, Shino always took command.
"We'll eat, rest and look at the maps we brought. Try and figure out which way they probably went." Shino pushed his glasses back up on his nose.
It worried him that neither Kiba nor Hinata even looked at each other.
"It's not going to be enough." Kiba said, turning to scratch Akamaru behind his ears.
Hinata cast a surprised look at Kiba. Kiba hardly ever contradicted an order from Shino.
"What won't be?" Shino asked.
"We don't have the time or the man power to search like this. Not if we want to find Sasuke in one piece." Kiba looked sideways at Shino.
"We're gonna need Pakkun." Kiba said decisively.
"Pakkun is too sick." Hinata protested. "Until Kakashi-sensei gets better Pakkun isn't going to be much help."
She blushed and looked away as Kiba flicked a look at her.
"Kinda makes you wonder why the Hokage sent him with us. She had to know Pakkun's condition would only get worse the longer he stays. And him draining chakra off of Kakashi-sensei can't be helping." Kiba replied slowly.
"I had wondered." Shino agreed. "It seems like a better idea would be to dispel him and let him rest in the spirit realm."
"So what are we missing?" Hinata asked.
"Someone needs to link to Pakkun." Kiba said suddenly, as if only just coming to a decision.
"Link?" Hinata asked confused.
"Kakashi-sensei summons Pakkun as part of a pack, but Pakkun isn't a subordinate. He's a dominant." Kiba continued shoving both hands into his pants pockets.
"All of Kakashi-sensei's summons are dominants, which is a testment to Kakashi-sensei's strength and bond with them." Kiba's voice held real respect.
"How does that help us?" Shino asked fixing Kiba with a look that said his paitence was wearing thin.
"Pakkun can be summoned by himself, by any suitably skilled person who signs pact with him." Kiba finished.
"Meaning that Pakkun would no longer be relying on Kakashi-sensei's weakened chakra!" Hinata said delighted. "Kiba-kun..."
She stopped and blushed.
"Meaning, while he wouldn't be one hundred percent without more rest, he would be useful." Kiba said.
Shino looked intently at Kiba.
"Hey, I know dogs. And plenty of my family have dog summons, and some of them know Pakkun and the others who run with Kakashi." Kiba said defensively.
"I'd like to know why you didn't remember this earlier." Shino said, brushing it aside he changed the subject.
"I don't suppose you know how to do one of these contracts do you?" Shino asked raising an eyebrow.
Kiba nodded.
"More or less. Naruto has a summon, he must know something about them too."
"Then let's get back to camp." Shino said, turning around without waiting for the others.
CampSakura sweated, she wasn't paticularly fond of sweating but it was for a good cause. Her taijustu had never been her strongest point and now seemed like a good time to practice. With Naruto as her target.
"Rrraaaaagh! Stand still Naruto!" Sakura yelled.
"Nan! You said you needed practice!" Naruto called back.
He ducked under her swinging fist again and waggled his tongue at her. It was a good thing he had such practice dodging Sasuke's attacks. Of course Sasuke's hits didn't threaten to smash him into pulp. It gave added spice.
She'd gotten better, much better. She'd soaked up everything the Hokage had to teach her about fighting and fixing. Strictly speaking her taijutsu was better than his. If you were talking execution of moves. It was actual combat where his quick thinking and down right cunning gave him the advantage.
If he compared them, Sakura was closer to Sasuke's level of taijustu than he, Naruto, was. But she had nowhere near their endurance or chakra levels. Her genjutsu use was better than either of them, unless Sasuke resorted to his high level Sharingan, which was cheating anyway. She still trailed in ninjitsu use, but with her new medic nin tricks it didn't matter.
Sasuke's talent for situation analysis far outstripped either of them, and Sakura had trouble coming up with really inventive plans, which was Naruto's speciality. She, however knew much more about diplomacy and negotiation than they would ever bother with.
If one day they could just learn as much as Kakashi-sensei.
In Naruto's humble opinion his team was perfect. They just had to get the fourth member back.
The arrival of Shino's team and their announcement caused an uproar.
"What d'ya mean you don't know anything about contracts!" Kiba yelled into Naruto's red face. "You signed one!"
"Huh, that was just the ol' pervert shoving my hand onto a scroll of paper." Naruto said crossing his arms.
"He didn't explain anything to you?" Hinata asked dissapointed.
Naruto shook his head. He and Kiba stared at each other as if blaming each other for the problem.
"I know about them." Sakura said quietly. "I studied them. I kept hoping Tsunade-sama would teach me to summon Katsuyu-sama."
Naruto turned to Sakura.
"Summons are quiet rare. Powerful ones like Katsuyu-sama don't always accept the command of a summoner." Sakura continued. "I guess Tsunade-sama figured I was never ready for it."
She gave a small embarrassed smile.
"Oh well can't be helped now!" She said with forced brightness, walking back to where she'd tucked Pakkun up in a warm bed.
"Hey who says it's you that connects to him?" Kiba asked.
"Because he's Kakashi-sensei's summon, because he's going to be sucking alot of chakra from someone until he gets his strength back. It's better if it's someone who isn't going to be in any frontline action for a while anyway." Sakura said matter of factly.
"B-but how are you going to sign a pact with him when we don't have a pact to sign?" Hinata asked trying hard not to look at Naruto.
"There's another way, an older way done in emergencies." Sakura said softly drawing a kunai and some bandages from her back pouch.
She placed her hands onto Pakkun's side and pushed with her Chakra. Pakkun wasn't large, it didn't drain her too far to bring him far enough out of his lethagy to ask him what she needed to know.
"Pakkun, I need to perform a binding with you. Will you allow it?" She asked without a tremour of emotion in her voice.
"An old binding," He said in a weak voice. "I knew it would come to this, I am glad a cute girl like you wants to bind to me."
Sakura pushed harder feeling her precious chakra levels dip suddenly. Pakkun's eyes grew clearer.
"Do you understand girl? What a binding like this will mean?" He fixed her with his normal sad expression.
"I do." Sakura said.
"Then do it. I welcome a pact with my pack mate Sakura." He slumped back down as Sakura drew back.
Quickly before Naruto could protest she cut her wrist deeply. Wincing but ignoring Naruto's panicked protest she quickly made a cut in Pakkun's side. He didn't bleed blood, he had no blood as they called, what he had was mist like and cold. Sakura pressed her cut into Pakkun's cut and bandaged the two of them together.
Soon she felt weak, then the tremours started, and the cold set in. It crept up from her wrist to invade her entire body. She could feel it rising up like a cold tide in her head and just when she felt she would sink down into it and drown, it stopped.
She came to and it was late in the afternoon, people were talking around her. Someone had placed a blanket over her and Pakkun.
"I told you, nothing like this happened when I signed my pact, and nobody cut open my arm!" Naruto said angrily.
"Uuh. Naruto-kun." Sakura said groggily.
"Sakura-chan!" He said appearing at her side. "Are you okay?"
"'Kay." She whispered feeling like someone had squeezed every once of strength out of her then poured it back in funny.
"You should lie down again." Hinata said appearing at her side.
Sakura felt vaguely guilty that Hinata was taking care of her. Sakura shook her head.
"Have to... dispel Pakkun and resummon him." She said.
Her voice was whispery and she fought to put more force into it.
"Once he's not connected to Kakashi-sensei, most of this weakness will go away." She said trying to undo the bandage.
Hinata reached over and untied the knot. The knot was neater than Sakura remembered and she looked curiously at the dark haired kunoichi who was busy avoiding her eyes.
"It was coming undone, I had to redo it." Hinata said without raising her eyes.
Sakura nodded her thanks.
Pakkun lifted his head and gave a faint smile. His fell back to the ground limply and before anyone could do more than gasp he dissapeared.
"That's a good thing right?" Kiba asked, coming closer to stare at Sakura.
Sakura nodded, then swayed in place. Naruto bit his lip and supported her shoulders against himself. She tried to lift her arm to bite something but found herself too weak. Before anyone else could move Hinata had turned Sakura's hands over and pulled a kunai out of her pack.
The scar was clear against her pale skin, and Sakura thought ruefully that she'd have to cover it for undercover missions. Wait until Tsunade-sama caught sight of it, she'd kill Sakura. Hinata didn't hesitate a second as a she sliced one of Sakura's fingertips on her opposite hand. Sakura had to feel a moment of frustation at the girl's self control. Her enemy weak, a kunai in hand and Hinata didn't even hesitate, didn't even have to decency to look like she might have thought about slicing Sakura's wrist. Sakura would've thought about it, had she been in Hinata's place, and it would have shown.
Naruto shifted as the smell of blood became strong again. He rubbed his nose trying to push the smell aside.
Hinata placed Sakura's bleeding finger onto the scar and Sakura had the strength to press her own hand against the ground.
"Kuchiyose no jutsu." She managed with clarity and even a little strength.
A puff of smoke and Pakkun sat there looking only a little worse for wear.
Sakura felt a silly smile climb onto her face. Her very first summon. She was knocked from her revery when Hinata took her bleeding finger and started wrapping a quick banadage around it. Sakura pulled her hand free and sat up feeling a little more steady.
"S'okay." Sakura said as Hinata protested. "You don' haf ta."
Sakura felt bad enough that Hinata had to watch Naruto interact with her without Hinata taking care of her.
Hinata nodded and stood up going to stand next to Shino.
Sakura and Pakkun looked at each other and for a moment it was as if noone else was there. Kiba sniffed loudly.
"You can swing by my house if you like." He said to Sakura. "If you have any questions, about things. You know, after."
Naruto gave him a curious look, but Kiba suddenly found the sky very interesting.
Sakura dragged her eyes away from Pakkun and blinked slowly at Kiba.
"Than's." She said dreamily.
"Pakkun? We should get going." Shino said. "We don't have alot of daylight left."
Pakkun shook himself and Sakura shivered.
"Right, let's go. Pack up camp 'cause we're gonna cover some ground." Pakkun looked positively lively, Sakura on the other hand looked as if she'd received a hard knock to the head.
"Will she be okay?" Naruto asked, helping Sakura to her feet.
"Yeah," Pakkun said sniffing the ground a little. "She's gonna need a little support for a while, but it'll even out."
"What'll even out?" Naruto asked starting to feel pissed.
Sakura wasn't supposed to be hurt by this. She was supposed to be alright. Noone said Sakura would behave like this, he hadn't been hurt when he'd signed pact with the frogs.
"Tell ya la'er." Sakura said pushing him away.
She staggered a few steps, acting as if she expected to have more feet than she had. Naruto caught her again and forced her to sit against a tree while he prepared their sacks. She tried to take her bag, but had trouble using her fingers on the little straps and she had to give it up to the others.
Shino had a momentary worry that the Hokage would blame him for this. With that comforting thought he hurried through his preparations. Better to tell her about this during a report on a successful mission then.
Naruto distributed most of her gear to the others except her medical supplies and some food. He helped her put the smaller bag onto her shoulders. He propped her up as she had the most disturbing habit of trying to walk bent over.
Moving out, Kiba asked Pakkun how he could be so sure of the direction. Sakura looked at him.
"Team secret." She whispered over Naruto's shoulder.
Kiba frowned a second then assumed a blank expression. Shino looked on curiously but decided to corner Kiba about it later.
They didn't stop until after midnight when the sky started to cloud over and the long overdue first rains of winter started.
Camp
After setting up camp, Naruto dithered around the still dazed Sakura until Hinata kicked him physically out of their tent. He pouted a while outside then dived into his own tent.
Sakura lay on her side cuddled around Pakkun. Hinata looked at her exasperated.
"You can't sleep in your wet clothes." Hinata said, trying to untangle the girl's arms.
Sakura tried to help, she didn't want to feel more indebted to Hinata than she already did, but everything seemed out of coordination. Her arms weren't right and everything was the wrong size and she had this crazy double vision going on. Sighing Hinata looked hopefully at Pakkun.
"We'll have to snap her out of it somehow." Pakkun said sitting down next to Hinata. "Have to get her attention."
Hinata thought a moment then crept across to the boy's tent. Coming back with Naruto in tow she pointed to Sakura who was petting Pakkun again.
"I need you to help me change her clothes." Hinata said, her eyes fixed firmly on her own feet.
She really didn't want to see the way his eyes would light up at the thought. She felt bad enough asking this of him.
To her surprise Naruto jumped back and started shaking his head.
"Uh uh! No way, I like walking." He said in a panicked voice.
Hinata looked at him, her hand covering her mouth a blush creeping up on her cheeks for no real reason. Was Sakura that violent? How could he love a girl like that? A girl so loud, so pushy, so violent, so...so...the opposite of her. Hinata hung her head and took a moment to arrange her features until nothing showed.
"Pakkun says that we need to get her attention from whatever she's thinking about." Hinata explained, playing with the toggles on her jacket.
"You think me changing her will do that?" Naruto asked, still backed up against the tent flap.
Hinata raised an eyebrow at his question. Naruto gave an embarassed laugh.
"Yeah, given past experience, it would definately get her attention."
Crawling towards Sakura as if she were a timebomb ticking away, Naruto tried not to notice the far away expression in her eyes. It scared him that she was like this, it reminded him that they'd messed with something that they didn't understand.
"Hey, Sakura-chan, can I take your clothes off?" He asked cheekily.
Pakkun hopped off her lap and went to sit by Hinata.
"I want to be out of the line of fire." He explained.
Hinata accepted his presence and placed a hand on his head. It was comforting to have him next to her as she watched her crush reach slowly for the wet jacket on another woman's body.
Naruto slipped the chunnin jacket off Sakura's shoulders, cringing as he expected a heavy slap to knock him into next week.
Sakura smiled a little vaguely but didn't try to stop him. Hinata bit her lip and turned her head away.
Naruto flexed his fingers trying to work up the courage to remove something else. He decided on her shoes and had to position her with her legs straight in front so he could get to them easily. Sakura immediately flopped down onto her back, which was not the least inviting pose she could have taken.
Naruto tried to concentrate on the fact that one kick would pulverise him, rather than the clear view he had under her skirt. He didn't even hear the tent flap open and fall shut after Hinata as she left. His heart was beating much too loudly. It didn't leave alot to remove. He both did, and did not want her to wake up quickly.
If he was going to keep his reputation as a non-pervert she better wake up soon, otherwise...
Gulping he moved to kneel beside her head. His hands hesitated between unzipping the top and maybe undoing the skirt. The skirt would leave Sakura with the shorts, but this could be his last chance for a long time to get this far with her. Maybe ever if Sasuke when came back Sakura turned away.
Deciding he squinted his eyes shut the maximum while still peeking and pulled gently on the top's zipper.
He made it half way before the sight of her innocent trusting gaze killed him. Sighing he zipped her top up again. Noticing that Hinata was no longer there, he decided more drastic measures were needed. He moved over Sakura's prone body into a push up position and gazed down into her vague eyes.
"Come back." He whispered and leaned in and kissed her.
He kept it soft, a butterfly kiss. Sakura sighed and seemed to relax further. Naruto pushed harder, caressing her lips with his.
Wake up. He willed into her.
Sakura's eyes fluttered closed and Naruto lowered himself onto her body. Giving free rein to his need, Naruto stroked her sides and pushed his tongue against her closed mouth. He moved against her, and wished she were awake with all his soul. Awake and responding to everything he offered.
Wake up and love me. He said to her with his body.
Moving away from her mouth her kissed down her neck to where it joined her shoulder. She moved a little, gave a mewling sound and suddenly Naruto could smell the blood in her neck. Then, he bit her.
Afterwards he couldn't say what had possessed him to bite her, but it worked. She woke up with a start and looked around wildly. Naruto moved away immediately shocked at his action. He tasted blood in his mouth and looked in horror at the small wound he'd left on her skin.
She sat up wincing and reached for the spot. Seeing Naruto she started to ask a question but stopped when her fingers came away with blood on them. Naruto took one look at her startled expression then fled.
Hinata looked at him surprised as she sheltered under a nearby tree, but he didn't stop to speak.
She nodded good night to Shino who had first guard, and went back to find Sakura awake and full of questions.
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What do you guys think about Hinata's reactions? If they seem a little confused, it's because she's confused. She should hate Sakura, look at Ino and Sakura back in the day, but she just can't hate anyone like that. Girl is seriously nice. She wants Naruto, but wants his happiness more. I figure I might give her angel wings or something if she keeps this up. I know my Sakura could never do the same thing.