-Why is it that when people tie knots, they have such an urge to pull until it gives no more, only to then realize that they'll never be able to untie the knots around them. Just because of curiosity.-
PS- The angst is'a risin'!
"I'm sensing chakra." Neji whittled through the snow in the strong approaching presence.
Shikamaru let out a tired breath that created a momentary cumulus cloud before him. They had been searching all over the general area, slowly fanning out further, "How far would you say?"
"Maybe 350 meters." He stopped his tracks as a hand slowly unlatched a kunai from his holster, "It's strong."
"I was going to say," Shikamaru paused alongside his teammate. "Even at that distance, I can feel it."
They walked in silence for a while, the crunch and cracks of the snow beneath their feet the only sounds responding to one another.
crunch, crunch, slish, crunch-crack,…crunch…shlunch…
The silence was starting to be intolerable for the somewhat nervous Chunnin. Her mind was running over what exactly to say to them with a tactical approach. Thinking wildly would never get anything done. That was what she had learned from Tsunade, relax, and work logically and methodically. It wasn't working though; she couldn't take the snow's cry beneath her feet.
"Sasuke-kun," she looked up from the grey appearing snow and through the veil of darkness that her eyes had become accustomed to.
"Hn." He acknowledged the calling of his name.
She hesitated, staring at his ashen hair, pitch black with the cover of the night, "How come there weren't any tracks in the snow before?"
"Curiosity killed the cat." Suigetsu huffed behind her.
Sakura spoke over her shoulder feeling comfortable enough to let out a decent comeback, "Next time I see a cat, I'll be sure to remind them."As she turned back, Sasuke had slowed his pace enough to see an angled view of his cheek; she thought for a moment that she might have seen the tiniest of smirks, though it must have only been her imagination.
The white-headed Mist-nin behind her scoffed a bit, "Smart-ass."
"It's a Genjutsu." Sasuke replied, simply and short, she hadn't expected more from him.
..."*"…"*"…"*"…"*"…
"I think that's them." She looked ahead and announced after a few more moments of trudging through the snow.
As they approached, Sakura prepared, rethinking what she was doing, whether she should go with him or not. He was technically an S-rank criminal, but that was just a label placed on him for trying to avenge his family. He was still Sasuke-kun to her. She just couldn't see the criminal in him. True, he had left Konoha to join with one of the sickest S-ranked nin out there, but he had killed Orochimaru. That at least said something.
"Sakura!" Neji jogged in the snow, Shikamaru close behind. Their faces grew concerned and almost scornful as they neared.
"I'm fine," she spoke out as she approached them, her limbs still feeling rather numb. Sasuke and Suigetsu halted their promenade behind her, "I need to talk with you guys."
Shikamaru's furrowed brows glanced back to Sasuke and the other nin, "Whose he?"
"Is he coming back?" Neji joined in the Q&A, a small look of hope on his normally somewhat hard face.
She knew he meant Suigetsu, "Sasuke's formed a team. He's one of the members, one of the other members is poisoned." She could tell Neji already knew the answer to his question, but she answered despite it, "He's not, coming back yet." She had to add the 'yet'. Just for her own comfort.
"What's going on?" The analytical Chunnin pressed the information out of her, confused by the situation.
A lump of snow fell to the ground from a nearby branch, reminding Sakura of the swelling lump in her own throat, "I'm going to go heal her. But, you have to stop following him."
"Sakura," Shikamaru warned.
"Trust me okay? I can take care of myself. I can't just let someone whose injured be, I'm a medical nin." She knew that the backlight in her viridian eyes showed enough to let Shikamaru know that she was going for more than just her duties as a medical nin.
He looked to Neji for a reaction, who was staring intently at the proud standing Uchiha. His teammate's eyes shifted to him as he caught onto his questioning eyes. As the team leader, Shikamaru was the one who was obliged to have the last word but, he didn't know what to do, and judging by Neji's equally confused eyes, he turned his nose to the ground as he thought. This is beyond troublesome…
"We can't let you go with them." He started, "it would be against the mission, and it would jeopardize your safety."
She pleaded with her eyes, unseen to Sasuke but in direct view of her comrade, "Every mission puts the shinobi in danger Shika-kun. I know that you're the squad commander, but in the end it is my choice."
His concerned face looked into her pleading eyes before directing at Sasuke, "You," Sasuke connected eyes, "If you hurt her, I know a fairly large amount of people who will more than kill you. Including the two of us."
Neji nodded, crossing his arms "Of course first dibs would be to Naruto," Sasuke's lips tightened, Sakura feeling a pain of guilt serge through her as she thought of her best male friend. What if he thought she had left him, just like Sasuke? What if he blamed it all on himself? He overworked himself when he did that. She wouldn't be there to heal him.
"As long as everyone sticks to their word, nothing is going to happen to her." He calmly stated. Sakura felt a threat lingering in-between the lines of what he responded with.
She heard Suigetsu shift his weight in the snow, "You think we could go now? I mean, on top of the fact that it's kind of cold out here, we have a teammate dying."
Sakura turned her head slightly before stepping back in unison with her new associates, "Tell Naruto," she backtracked in the snow, looking at both of them, "Tell him that I'll be back, and that he means a lot to me." She saw Neji nod with a smile, though it was only masking lack of confidence in the whole situation. What she didn't see though was the solid glance back that Sasuke had delivered. "And tell Ino-pig that she better hurry up and make her move on you Shika-kun!" She wanted to leave off as light-heartedly as possible, though turning before seeing Shikamaru's reaction, only hearing a chuckle as she crunched through the snow once again.
They had reached Hebi's hideout, a cave toward the inner parts of The Sound, where it had gotten pleasantly more tepid. Sasuke had been somewhat apprehensive about her seeing exactly how to get there, but moved forward anyway. The life of a valued teammate on the line.
Once there, she met Juugo, a larger guy who was quite kind and welcoming to her. Which, she noted brought a strange expression to Sasuke's face, like he had expected Juugo to hate her. Then there was Karin, who wasn't in much of a state to meet considering that the poison had rendered her without her conscious. Sakura spent an hour lulling the poison from the red-head's unconscious body, causing herself to be weary by the end of the process. Suigetsu had showed her where she could rest for the night. Near her was Sasuke, she assumed he was there simply to keep an eye on her, though she knew that with such a day, she would be asleep for quite a while.
She had been right, the next time she woke, a mid-late morning resembling light shone through her closed lids. She was accustomed to waking at dawn on mission schedules; though admit ably she had needed the rest. When the presence of a discussion between the team named after serpents commenced, she left her lids sealed to listen without notice.
"See, what did I tell you, she healed her in friggen' record time!" she heard Suigetsu's voice in a hushed exclaim.
"I've never seen a med-nin work so efficiently and thoroughly. And I've seen my fair share." Juugo's voice joined in. She smiled inwardly at their praise.
"She's not that great. Any med-nin can do that sort of stuff eventually." The inward smile turned to a bitter frown hearing the presumed Sound kunoichi 'Karin' to be finally awake.
"You should be more grateful. She saved your life." This was slightly shocking to Sakura, it sounded like he was almost defending her, "Besides, Juugo is right. There aren't many med-nin out there that work as well as she did. The quicker the poison is removed, the less time it has to do damage, so consider yourself lucky Suigetsu found her." Now he sounded grateful that he had found her. Maybe she was still asleep and dreaming?
"You think we can keep her?" Suigetsu piped up.
"She's not a dog or something." Juugo sounded to be laughing lightly.
"Aw, common Sasuke, think of how useful it would be to have one of the best med-nin out there," Suigetsu had started persuading again, "besides, you have to admit that it'll be hard to find a med-nin of that level willing to help out criminals and weirdo's."
"-And a highly skilled kunoichi." Sakura was starting to dislike this Karin very much.
Though agreeing with Suigetsu when responding, "That would only be after Sakura got put in the team, in which case we wouldn't need to attract any med-nin."
A few muffled punches and some yelping took place before Sasuke's voice rang in the cave, "Everyone shut up!" they quickly did, leaving the resilient sound reverberating in the hole in the rock. The silent reverberations held for a moment longer until he spoke again, "Sakura, I know you're up."
She opened her eyes, red handed though not guilty. Sitting up to see all of them seated around the hide-out, looking toward her. "How are you feeling?" she directed her gaze to Karin, sitting closely to Sasuke.
She huffed, "Fine."
Sasuke elbowed her, resulting in a battle of the eyes between the two, Sasuke of course victorious, "…Thank you." She forced out.
"No problem, it's my duty." Sakura sat up watching as Sasuke seemed to scan her over once, head to toe.
She looked back at him with a feeling of flighty air in her stomach, but not shy to align eyes, though slightly amused when Karin scowled in her peripheral vision, "Sasuke-kuuun," she scooted close to him as she spoke, his eyes breaking from Sakura. "What's today's plan?"
"We're heading to a hideout off to the west, I want to stock up on some things from there. Then we're going to spit up," He turned to Suigetsu, "You're to go to the outskirts of the village while Juugo, I want you to go with him, Karin," she smiled, Sakura snickered to herself, just like when I was young around Sasuke-kun…good thing I grew up. "Head into the village and gather what information you can of Akatsuki or anything pertaining Itachi."
He stood, walking over to Sakura motioning for her to rise. She did willingly, though soon uncomfortably woozy, still worn from her undertakings of the night before. Sasuke's enticing eyes sweeping over her helped that condition very little.
"You're to come with me."
"Hey wait a second, she should go with Juugo and Suigetsu, I'll be of more help to you!" Karin stood complaining, "If I see chakra then I can alert you, what good will she do?"
"I'll have you know that I'm a skilled Kunoichi, trained under a legendary Sannin, so if you want to pretend to everyone else that you're better than me, that's fine. Just realize the truth yourself." Sakura stepped forward with enmity.
"Oooh, cat fight!" Suigetsu, whose back had been facing Sakura until he stretched an arm back to watch the show with impish eyes, sang with excitement. Juugo rest his chin on his large palm supported by the knee of which his elbow was positioned.
Karin's scowl boiled to a more concentrated grimace, "You think you're such a hot shot; don't you! If you're so great, how come Sasuke had no trouble passing you and leaving Konohagure?!"
Sakura's eyes widened at the information that she had thought was between her and Sasuke, pupil shrinking almost to the size of her confidence inside. How does she know about that…
"Karin! " Sasuke's was stern and admonishing, his shoulder came in soft contact with Sakura's almost like a Sasuke-version of 'comfort'. "She's coming with me because I don't need three combing one area and Karin, the fact that you can sense chakra is why I only need you to go into the town and scope out if any Akatsuki are there."
She frowned though remained silent as did everyone else, noticing the anger in Sasuke's impatient tone.
"Well, then….let's go already. It's late as it is." Suigetsu stood and grabbed what must have been his pack, waiting for Sasuke to head to the exit, Sakura following behind him with Juugo Suigetsu and Karin close behind after they picked up their things. The whole time they made way to the west, Sakura was connecting any possible way that Karin knew such intimate details of Sasuke's leaving Konoha. I guess, he's known her for a while…
As they approached a village, Sakura noticed the symbols for 'abandoned' painted over the original village sign. The silence that erupted from such a chaotic looking mess of buildings was eerie as she trailed close behind Sasuke.
"This is a hideout?" Suigetsu spoke as they entered a building, rubble furnishing it's insides.
"It was used by the Uchiha back in the day," Sasuke explained as they made way down a long hallway, "Everyone fan out and gather up things that we may need. Meet back by this door in thirty minutes."
They nodded and began to disperse in different directions, Sasuke grabbed Sakura's wrist from under her beige and green striped cloak when she had slowly turned, her spine tingled erratically, "You stay with me. We need to find you a change of clothes. You look too much like a leaf kunoichi."
He opened the door before letting her wrist go, she walked in with her chin over her shoulder, "Sasuke-kun, I am a leaf kunoichi."
He sighed looking ahead before retorting, "If you're going to travel with us, then you can't show that." She looked at him intently confused,
"you are with us to heal Karin. It by no means constitutes you as a member."
But….'if you're going to travel with us'….?...does that mean that he…."Travel with you?" is accepting me to his team?
He didn't respond, instead walking forward into the room, Sakura noticed a cat like old lady sitting like a doughy pretzel on a mat in the back of the room, "Sasuke-chan," she started, a few more than a few cats curling behind her back, "My my, I haven't seen you for so long."
Sasuke knelt on one knee and bowed his head, "I'm here to repay my debts to you."
She wiggled her nose a little, stroking one of the felines next to her, "Off to defeat Itachi?" she waited for his nod, "I just can't believe how everything has turned out. You two were so close when you were younger."
Sakura shifted uncomfortably at the topic, feeling out of place and concerned for Sasuke at the same time. She raised her well kept brows slightly when the Elder Cat turned her eyes to her, despite having them closed.
"Well, who is this?" her tone was sweet, accented with a small smile.
Sasuke unraveled a pouch holding money, "Haruno Sakura, she's the medical-nin in my platoon." Now he's already referring to me as being on the team? She looked toward the back of his head with wonder.
"Such a pretty name, and it fits her perfectly." She commented, still gazing closed eyes on her.
She smiled lightly and loosely crossed her arms, only blushing when Sasuke turned his head over his shoulder and glanced at her up and down before turning back to his affairs, "Is there something that she could change into, something that would fit more in the Sound?"
The baa-san nodded, "Sure, Kaiyo-chan!," A girl their age with long pale blond hair stepped out from behind a curtain after a moment, "Get this girl some clothes that would be suitable for around here."
"Of course Elder Cat," She nodded to the baa-san and smiled at Sakura briefly before passing back through the curtain, a cat trailing her.
She came back after a few moment, Sasuke finishing the payment of his 'debts', and passed some folded clothes to him. He stood; she pulled on his shoulder to bring him closer, whispering something in his ear before accepting a small remark of gratitude and recoiling back to the room behind the curtain. Another cat trailed her in.
Sasuke rubbed his thumb on the clothing as he held it before looking up, "We'll just be gathering some weapons and medicine before leaving. Thank you Elder cat." He bowed his head, Sakura following in suit before they walked out of the room, one cat running up to the door with them, staring at Sasuke as he held the door for it with a notably softer face, but the cat simply blinked and turned back to the old lady.
The next door he pushed ajar was down a different hallway, Sakura ducking to avoid being hit in the head with the many wires hanging limp from the ceiling. "Change in here."
Her nod was short, receiving the cluster of clothes as she stepped into the colder; and damper room. She looked back at the door as he closed it, only momentarily before letting the clothes unfold. The first layer was a pair of black shorts that were similar to her own, only reaching her upper thigh. The black tank top to match had thick straps, it fit like a glove much to her surprise. The long top shirt was cloud white, a thin silky wine cord crossed in the front like a corset to the hem of the soft fabric which extended just past her hips.
Though difficult to get on, she liked the cloths. They made her feel edgy, more womanly and feminine with the string only lacing to her lower chest, revealing more than her last ensemble. The black shirt poked through the space in-between the two sides of soft white cloth, the burgundy string holding their distance.
-A/N- picture link in A/N at the end.-
She collected her other cloths, putting on the pair of nin sandals that was with the new look. Her curiosity combined with the hesitance to face Sasuke in a lower coverage garb influenced her decision to look around the room. It was as the rest of the building, filled with miscellaneous items that looked old and forgotten. Her hand scaled over a dusty wood dresser, stopping as she caught sight of a photograph. It looked to be of Sasuke's mother and father; she picked it up, smiling at the kindness on their faces, though saddened for him. They looked so in-love.
Suddenly, she felt a warm hand slither around her bare arm. Startled, she gasped and turned around; the framed photograph fell over onto the dresser with a thunk.
"Sasuke-kun!" her voice was low and shaken as she faced the feline sable eyes that had snuck up on her in complete silence, "don't do that."
"What are you doing?" his ashen eyes were aligned with hers, moving with them as they darted from his eyes to his lips, which were ever so dangerously close.
She felt her back press against the dresser, "I-I was just looking around. I'm sorry."
He retracted a little, keeping his sights on her eyes for a moment, before they moved down. She felt numb from their invasive quest over her body, still backed up to the dresser."According to Kaiyo, these were my mother's." he reached out, taking a gentle hold of one of the strings that hung from the small bow that she tied. His hand came wickedly close to a particularly sensitive area of her chest, she felt herself pant lightly, holding her breath as punishment. "Except, I remember her tying it a little bit differently." He smirked slightly at her vibrant and axiomatic reactions when he had barely came in contact with her.
"How so?" she forced out slowly as to not heave from holding her breath.
"Sit up behind you." She looked back, realizing that the distance he had backed up was shrinking back into her. She did so, obediently despite the fact that she never normally listened to the commands of any boy her age. She scolded herself repetitively as she felt a wave of goose-bumps peak across her skin like a sickly pleasurable chain reaction as his hand grazed her knee, reaching for a small red box behind her. He opened it pushing a few things around with his finger before pulling out a sort of clasp. It was the Uchiha emblem.
Resting it beside her hand, of which was curled over the edge of the dresser with a slight tension. He then proceeded to take hold of one of the strings and pulling on it, slowly at first, and then with more haste, though still gentle. As his hands impended to the roots of the burgundy cord to tie a double figure eight loop, she picked up the silver emblem, pulling her hands to her lap and looking past his hands to see it.
He parted one hand from the knot and lifted her jaw affably, "I can't see." He simply stated while holding his gaze on his self assigned task. She was hesitant to trust his seemingly affectionate actions. So she simply held the small clasp in her hands, until he reached for it. Letting him take it from the open palm that she purposefully lay in the seam where her two thighs met, scoping out his reactions. He glanced up at her evanescently through dark hair before clasping it over the knot made to hold it in place.
"Sasuke-kun," she started wanting to ask him something important. He stood straight, though still close. He was looking at the emblem dangling on the string and despite his stiff emotionless face, she could still see him remembering his mother, leaving her too guilty to say what she really had in mind. "This is how your mom wore it?"
He trailed the string a little longer as it settled from the movement before looking her in her viridian eyes, "Yeah." He said before turning his head to the door, "It sounds like they're heading back, we're done here." She hopped off the table when he had stepped far enough away.
She opened her mouth as he placed his wrist guard adorned hand on the knob, "I need to ask you something."
He stopped, the contact with his eyes being the only sign that he was acknowledging her request.
"Uhm, about what you said before," he looked at her plainly, as though he didn't really know what she was referring to, but she continued on as though he did despite it, "We're you saying that, I'm on your team?" he understood what she was referring to now, "Are you asking me to join your team?"
His hand tightened on the door as he starred down on it, away from her questioning eyes, "Sakura,-"
Sakura's outfit idea came from Samurai-PET on Deviant though I added the whole emblem clasp thing. It's a big part of the story.
.com/art/Pendulous-Threads-55283755
Okay, third chapie. They're getting longer so that's good I suppose, though I'd like to keep them around 3/4000 words long each. Longer than that and I'll be writing instead of doing homework and such….
Not that I'm not doing that now…
I need (NEED) reviews!! I don't want to post if no one is reading…or saying what they like or don't like so I know how to improve my scripture. I'll wind up writing it all on my laptop and leaving it there. No use posting.
So what do you think? Are there any parts that are difficult to read or seem unstable to the rest of the story so far? I just know from experience that sometimes Sasusaku fans want like, pure fluffy-lemons and all that fruity stuff. But the angst that builds between then floods those scenes with so much more satisfaction and desire for more. So there haha.