Chapter 7

I regained consciousness slowly, feeling dirt and rocks below me. I was pretty sure I wasn't dead, feeling was a characteristic of the living. I had collapsed, just wonderful. It looked like all that training with Itachi hadn't done much. I made a mental note to practice harder and insulate my mind better. The screams were still hanging in my head along with the words the strange thing had spoken. Could it be true or had the justu just messed with my head too much for me to be sure of anything?

I sensed people around me someone kneeling near me on one side, another bending over to look at me and behind them two standing, watching, waiting. I was too disoriented to tell who they were. Great an audience. I thought bitterly. I grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it at whoever was leaning over me. A yell and some stamping told me it was Naruto. He had caught the whole handful in his eyes I could hear him trying to rub it out. I heard an exasperated sigh from Kakashi. He was standing up. I opened my eyes and met a pair of dark almost black eyes. Sasuke was kneeling over me.

I got myself up on one arm not liking him watching me on the ground. I winced, my head was pounding. I groaned and held it with my other hand.

"What happened?" I asked no one in particular trying to keep my eyes averted from Sasuke.

"You got caught in a genjustu. We thought you might not make it." Sakura informed me in a serious and worried voice.

"I know that," did she have to point out the obvious now, "I mean how long was I out and where is that jerk. I have a bone to pick with him." Apparently satisfied that I was OK Sasuke got to his feet and I struggled up after him.

"You were out about a minutes after Sasuke released the genjutsu on you." Sakura answered.

I turned to Sasuke. He was standing there looking bored as always. "Thanks." I said formally. He shrugged looking so cool about it like he did that everyday.

"What the heck did you do that for!" Naruto demanded turning on me his eyes red from rubbing at the dirt.

"I couldn't tell who it was. I could have done a lot worse." I said uninterestedly.

"Hey I just took that guy out for you!"

"This is the part where I say thank you, right?" I smirked as his face reddened angrily.

Kakashi grabbed the back of his shirt as he made an attempt to get at me. "Calm down Naruto." he sounded quite bored of doing this.

I spotted the ninja we had been fighting earlier all tied up even the one I had nearly crushed to death. He had apparently escaped when I was in the genjutsu. My hands clenched into fists. No one puts me into a genjutsu and gets away with it. I thought angrily clenching my jaw.

Noticing where I was looking Kakashi said, "I've already called in for the village hidden in the Rain to come and get them. We'll travel another few miles today and continue tomorrow."

"Come on then let's get going." Sasuke said and set off toward along the path again. Everyone followed except me. I looked back at the guys who had attacked us. They were all knocked out and bound back to back. I pulled out a kunai and walked up to the one that put the genjustu on me. I cut my clan's sign into his exposed forehead and muttered, "If we ever meet again I'll kill you." I turned away from them and moved so fast no one noticed I hadn't been there, to the back of the group.


We traveled till the sun set then set up for the night. We got a fire going and cooked instant roman. Naruto started scarfing his down like he hadn't eaten in a year. I was on the opposite side of the fire looking into it absently occasionally taking a bite. Kakashi was on my left and Sakura on my right sitting close to Sasuke she could get.

"What was that jutsu you were doing earlier?" Sakura asked me curiously.

"Hmm? Oh that was just a basic Element Imprisonment. Well basic for me anyway." I answered absently not looking up.

"For you?"

"That's not the most advanced Elemental technique I know. If you had tried to do that you'd probably be unconscious for the next few days but I'm a special case."

"What do you mean?"

"The element style techniques are very difficult to execute. It makes the chakra network unstable and uses so much of it the average shinobi would more than likely be killed. Even Lady Tsunada would have trouble with it. Only the members of the Kagura clan were ever able to use it in battle and come out alive. " Kakashi answered for me.

Sasuke and Naruto paused. Naruto looked at Kakashi in amazement and said, "Even Grandma Tsunada?" Kakashi nodded.

"Well I've never heard of them before." Sakura replied.

"You wouldn't. It's been a banned form of jutsu since the death of the Kagura clan. But even before that it was only used among them. It one of the most dangerous forms of jutsu. How did you come to use it Sorin?" Kakashi asked casually.

I shrugged, "All the clan members where taught to use it. I'm not that special," I said it so natural to say it felt almost true even if it was a down right lie, "Nearly all of us were experimented on with a different jutsu to see if it could make our chakra stabler and our jutsu stronger. Some got so strong they could use the worst Element technique. The Element Devastation and that's what killed them. She lost herself in the jutsu and well you know the rest." That was true only it hadn't been just some random clan mate it had been me. There was still that tone of bitterness in my voice that I couldn't hide. It had been mostly my fault after all.

There was silence around the fire for a few minutes as everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Kakashi was giving me a look out of the corner of his eye, not quite pity thought that was there but more like he was wondering to believe me or not. How much did he know or suspect?

Sakura yawned and said, "Well I'm turning in. Night." She stood up stretching and walked off to set up her sleeping bag.

Naruto stood up after her with an excited look on his face maybe thinking he would get the spot next to her.

Kakashi stood up too, "We should all get some sleep tonight. We'll be traveling all day tomorrow."

"Fine." Sasuke said and we both stood up at the same time. He walked off one hand in his pocket looking extremely graceful as he did so. That was an Uchiha trait they all had great balance and beauty.


I couldn't sleep, as usual. The voice of the creature kept time in my head, the same thing over and over again. The one you hold dear cares nothing for you. Could it be true? Did Itachi not care about me? I rolled over onto my other side trying to get some sleep. The words kept time with my heartbeat and I couldn't silence them or my doubts. I rolled onto my back agitatedly and looked up at the stars.

It was a beautiful cloudless night and the full moon shone over me like it had decided to watch me suffer. I stood up unable to stand laying there and pretending I could get some sleep tonight. I slipped on my sandals and walked silently into the cover of the trees. It was quiet tonight except for the occasional breeze rustling the leaves overhead.

I wasn't absolutely sure where I planned to go or what I planned to do but my feet kept carrying me. The tree thinned ahead and the forest turned to cliff. I stepped up to the edge and looked down unafraid of the long drop. I was imagining what it would feel like to fall down the wind rushing at you and then the sudden blackness of death. It would be easy wonderful almost worth it.

Suddenly several things happened in very quick succession. I sensed someone behind me in the trees but before I could tell who it was there was a cracking of rock under my feet and then there was nothing under my feet and I was falling. I summoned my chakra to the bottom of my feet and the palm of my hands but the couldn't get hold of anything. Panic shot threw me as I thought wildly, I can't die here like this.

A hand shot out of nowhere and caught my forearm, pulled me back up. We both fell to the wonderfully solid ground panting and I turned to look at my savior. Black hair shimmer in the moon light and angry dark eyes met mine. It was Sasuke.

"What were you doing that close to the edge? You almost got yourself killed." His voice was like steel and he was out of breath.

I deliberated the point my voice matching the anger in his, "What are you doing up so late following me anyway?" I was rather humiliated by being saved twice in one day by someone other than Itachi. Until now I had only ever been saved by him, I was normally strong enough to save myself. What's with this guy anyway? I thought bitterly, I don't need his help and why was he following me?

He didn't say anything for a second. He glared down at my arm that he still had a firm grip on. He let go and we stood up at the same time glaring at each other.

"You didn't answer my question." I said in a more level voice.

"Hn neither did you." he replied.

I didn't know what to say to that. The longer I stood there the more tension seemed to build in the air and the more I wanted to stop looking at him. I couldn't avert my eyes though. I could feel something keeping both of us chained to the spot. I wanted to run to Itachi and get rid of this strange feeling and convince myself this was all just some weird dream brought on by lack of sleep.

For some reason just looking at him made me want to tell him the truth and that scared me more. I said it before I had really gotten time to decide if I wanted to say anything at all, "I couldn't sleep. Happy? So why were you following me?"

"I was going to get some training in and you had left." I blinked in surprise. How had I not seen or heard him? Was I losing it? A thousand questions ran threw my head. His expression had cleared and his face was back to normal. I was having trouble looking at him. He looked like a younger version of Itachi in almost every way, his hair was shorter and he didn't have the lines under his eyes but they had the same face and similar posture. I was stunned beyond the point of movement.

You two look so much the same, how can you have chosen such different paths? I wondered to myself.

I felt very light headed in that second and I realized the back of my leg was coated in something wet. I looked down and there was a lot of blood. I must have cut myself when I fell. My legs wouldn't hold me up and things were going fuzzy at the edges. I started falling again and the grass was getting closer. Sasuke stepped forward and caught me before I hit the ground. I looked up at him as everything swayed and shifted. His face refocused and he was looking at the blood with tense eyes.

"Hold on I'll get Kakashi." He told me and tried to stand up but I grabbed his sleeve and muttered, "Wait don't go... I got it... no problem... I've had worse." My voice was going in and out along with my vision.

"You're losing too much blood. Do you want to die?" he asked me intensely.

I didn't answer and his face turned grave. I did several hand signs and summoned as much chakra as I could. Water and air gather around my hand as I pressed it to the wound. It was healing it but my strength was slipping away. I put more focus into it and summoned up earth and fire to help close the wound.

My chakra failed and I struggled to stay conscious. The gash was pretty much closed but it was still bleeding a little. I slumped against Sasuke suddenly very tired breathing hard. He was looking at the wound in amazement.

"What was that."

"Another of my clan's experimental jutsu, elemental healing. I didn't have enough chakra to finish it but it'll do." I replied breathlessly.

He reached into his pouch and pulled out a roll of bandages then proceeded to wrap them around my leg. I winced a little partially for effect and partly from his touch. The wound was stinging but not enough to hurt. I breathed in his scent. It was distinctly different from Itachi's, he did smell of woods but he also had a sweet scent I had never encountered before. His warmth was beginning to put me to sleep. He finished and I tried to stand up, my head was pounding and my legs wouldn't support my weight. That genjutsu must have drained more of my energy than I'd thought because I'd had worse injuries than that and could still run for days on end.

Sasuke grabbed my arm as I wobbled unsteadily. I gave him an annoyed look and said, "I can walk just fine on my own." I tried and failed to walk away from him ending up falling into him anyway.

"You don't look like it." he put an arm around me to help me stay upright.

"Fine." I said resignedly and let him lead me back in the direction of camp as I though bitterly to myself, Having a very productive day aren't I? First I get ambushed, then I get caught in a genjutsu, fall off a cliff, nearly bleed to death, and have to rescued twice by Sasuke Uchiha. This is one for the books.

The sound of someone shouting ahead caught my attention, "Sasuke. Sasuke where are you?"

"Great it's Sakura." I said annoyed.

She was crashing around and making a huge racket up ahead coming this way. Another person to see me being weak. Well at least it's not Naruto. I thought exasperated.

Sasuke sighed sounding just as annoyed as I felt. She was making more noise than was really necessary and it was making my head pound. "Sasuke." she called again.

"Is she always this obsessed." I asked him frowning. He nodded his head once and stopped walking. I looked at him questioningly. I could tell all she needed to do was get around that tree and she would be within sight range of us.

Sasuke quickly shifted his weight and pulled me with him behind a tree to our left. "What the-" he covered my mouth his hand and stood looking around the tree. Sakura came into view and Sasuke shifted back so we were out of sight.

"Where could he have gone off to?" She sounded disappointed. She looked around one more time and kept going. I didn't dare to breath. What a pest no wonder he was hiding form her. I thought feeling a twinge of pity for him.

We stood there for a minute listening to her noisy progress. I realized how close Sasuke and I were. My back was pressed against his chest and I could feel his heart beating. Sasuke removed his hand and we both breathed normally again. I leaned my head on his shoulder trying to stay wake, it felt right somehow which scared me. He didn't move at all.

"What was that about?" I asked him almost too drained to move.

"She does this every time." I looked up at him, he was frowning, "Come on Naruto will be here soon looking for her."

We extracted ourselves from the tree and continued at a slow pace. Several questions crossed my mind simultaneously. Why on Earth is he helping me? Why didn't he just leave me at the cliff after he saved me? Why can't Sakura take a hint? Why would Naruto come to look for Sakura? What the heck is wrong with these genin?

I was so tired I couldn't think straight anymore. Finally we reached camp. Sasuke seemed to be right, Naruto and Sakura were gone but Kakashi seeming too use to this behavior to care and still appeared to be sleeping. Sasuke led me over to my sleeping bag and I fell onto it and looked up at the sky for a second wishing I was back in Sasuke's arms. I reminding myself that this was the boy that had sworn his life to kill Itachi and thinking like that was not what I should be doing.

I turned my head to Sasuke who had started to walk away and said loud enough for him to hear, "Thank you Sasuke." He paused for a second then he said over his shoulder, "Don't expect me to this all the time."

"Ha. You won't need to." He walked back into the forest probably to retrieve Sakura and Naruto. I looked back at the sky then down at my leg wrapped in bandages. So strange, I had never really had anyone help me apart from Itachi. I smiled a little, it was nice. A little voice was whispering in my ear that it was not good to make ties and I should concentrate on the mission but for a second I almost felt happy. If I were Itachi I wouldn't have left. That was my last thought before I fell asleep.