Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! Only the parts that I'm adapting into the original story line.
Fated Encounter
CHAPTER 22
Sakura woke up just after the sunrise. Their rooms window faces East and all the bright light illuminated the small space.
Karin was ribbing her eyes under her glasses and sitting down on her own futon. She was the last one to be on watch for the night, but seemed like she was asleep rather than watching out for any danger. Sakura, however, knew better than to doubt Karin's abilities to sense and detect danger. She was an excellent at tracking other people's chakras even in her sleep.
Sasuke had already left the room without saying anything to anyone. Suigetsu tried to pry where he was going but only got a silencing look. Now he was lying on his side on the futon looking bored as hell.
They had agreed on leaving the village in two hours, and before that Sakura had to get something to eat. Her stomach was as empty as Suigetsu's water bottle this morning.
As she fixed her top and grabbed the small bag from the floor, she turned to Suigetsu and Karin, "I'll go get something to eat."
Suigetsu was happily drinking his water, "Be my guest, I'll take another little nap before we leave."
Karin scoffed in her corner of the room.
Sakura glanced at her, "If he doesn't wake up soon enough, you have my permission to drag him out."
Karin smirked towards Suigetsu, "Let's just hope it comes to that."
Suigetsu sneered at her and pointed his finger, "As if it's going to come to that!"
At that point, Sakura was half way out of the door and closing it behind her.
Sakura had seen a small shop last night when they came in to the village. She made her way towards it wishing and praying that it was open at this hour. As she walked closer she saw and old lady sweeping the front of the shop.
The old lady smiled at her as she neared and stopped sweeping the ground from all the dirt.
"How can I help you?"
"Is the shop open yet?" Sakura asked hesitantly.
"No, it's not yet, dear. I usually open it around 7 in the morning, but I think I can make an exception for you." Her wrinkles creased as she explained. Sakura's heart dropped slightly at first before a wave of relief washed over her.
She really was hungry and with the way the old lady was watching her, she knew it too. Or then it was because Sakura just looked unhealthily thin. That, often, got people to give her bigger portions when she ate at some place, especially the first few months being underweight. Even Anako sneaked some unhealthy treats for her without Kuro seeing it.
Sakura mused often that the woman had no idea Sakura knew she was using more oil when cooking her foods.
Sakura bought few packaged snack and a plum. She sat down few houses away on a bench to eat her small breakfast.
But the whole time since the moment she talked with the lady and sat down on the wooden bench, Sakura was away that someone was watching her. She wasn't troubled by it since she knew who it was.
Sasuke's smoldering presence was hard to ignore.
What he was doing, she had no idea, but she wasn't about to question him. He was somewhere in the surrounding area watching something and her.
It was about thirty minutes before Sasuke finally appeared near Sakura. She had just finished her breakfast as he approached her.
"Morning." She said softly while brushing some of the crumbs away from her clothes. He was carrying something bag like as he sat down on the bench next to her.
"What's that?" Sakura pointed at the thing in his hands.
Sasuke silently turned it around to show that it in fact was a bag.
"What do you need that for?"
"It's for you." He said and placed it on her lap. Sakura glanced at he satchel type of bag next to her on the bench.
"But I already have one."
"It's inconvenient. It's small and you have to hold one arm while we move so that it doesn't fly off." He explained and glared at the brown thing.
"Yeah, it might not be that useful, but-" She started but Sasuke cut her off.
"Sakura. If it comes to a sudden battle, you might not be fast enough. With two hands, you're a bigger threat, considering you're better at close up fighting." All the words sounded so logical that Sakura huffed in both amazement and frustration.
"You have too much time on your hand, if you're considering things like these." Sakura laughed and grabbed the bag for a better look. It was much bigger than her smaller one, but what intrigued her was the way it was attached to your body. Sakura looked at the clasps in confusion.
Sasuke saw the puzzled look on her face.
"You strap it to your belt loops."
"Ooh~! That explains it." Sakura said to herself before looking at Sasuke once again, "And like I said, you have too much time on your hands, if you know what kind of shorts I'm wearing."
Sasuke didn't reply to her teasing and opted to stay quiet.
"But thanks anyway." Sakura smiled at him.
Even though, it was half past seven and the small shops around the village were opening, there was rather little amount of people going around. As Sasuke and Sakura began their slow trek back to the inn, Sakura used the time to switch all of her stuff to her new bag.
The new bag was rather comfortable since it wasn't digging into her collarbone and shoulder all the time. It laid directly on top of her lower back secured to her shorts. Neither did it hinder her at all as she moved since it wasn't swaying next to her hip.
Their small travel was entirely silent for Sakura didn't want to disturb Sasuke. He seemed to be deep in thought and she didn't want to interrupt his thoughts. Fortunately, he didn't look disturbed or bothered by anything if Sakura read his body language correctly.
The inn was still completely silent with only a middle-aged man sitting behind the desk nodding at the two of them. They were half way across the steps when Sasuke suddenly grabbed Sakura's hand. She almost stumbled on her feet if it wasn't for Sasuke's free arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her upwards towards him.
She gasped in surprise as he chest slammed against Sasuke. Barely having time to even regain her breath, Sakura was once again smoldered by Sasuke as his lips fell against hers.
For a second she was sure this wasn't happening at all and she was only imagining this happening. But the pressure Sasuke put against her and the gentle way his lips touched her, indicated everything else. Her body tingled from her head to all the way to her toes. Sakura's fingers wrapped around Sasuke's biceps in order to stay up right.
The steps they were standing on were unusually small and Sakura had to lean closer to Sasuke to stay upright.
Their moment was cut short by a loud crash coming from upstairs.
Sakura pulled away from Sasuke and with a glance towards his direction and then upstairs, she sprinted the last few steps. Another crash cam right from their room and as Sakura opened the door, she saw what she expected; Suigetsu lying face down on the floor with Karin holding his head down. Suigetsu's head was half water and half normal with water pooling all over him.
Karin on the other hand looked down-right furious.
Sasuke slipped in to the room closely after Sakura.
"Karin." Sasuke's stern voice commanded. Karin looked up in surprise and let go of Suigetsu.
"Argh! You one aggravating woman!" Suigetsu groaned as he formed his head back to its normal state.
Suigetsu carefully got up from the floor taking steps away from Karin with his hands help up in the air, "Calm down! I was just joking!"
Karin didn't answer him, but instead sent a cold glare to him.
"You two seriously can't be left alone for longer than thirty minutes?" Sakura groaned in annoyance. The futons were scattered all over the room along with all of the sheets and blankets. Few dents decorated the wooden walls, and the more Sakura looked at the sight, the more furious she became. Didn't these two have any decency to take their battles outside?
"What's wrong with you, Pinky?" Suigetsu's unsure voice asked.
Everyone were staring at her gritting her teeth and watching her knuckles turn white.
She must have looked funny. Sasuke had ravished her for a moment in the hallway and now she was utterly furious at these two.
"S-Saku-" This time Karin stuttered her name, but Sakura cut her right off, "Shut up."
Sakura glared both of them, "You two" and pointed her finger between them, "fix this!"
"It wasn't m-" Suigetsu scratched his head and started complaining.
Sakura moved fast grabbing the hair at his neck and pulled him bend over at waist. Suigetsu stumbled on his feet and flung his arms in alarm.
"I said fix it!" She hissed at him and pushed him away with such force he almost flew through the wall. Luckily, she didn't use that much force and Suigetsu's back slammed against the wood that only groaned under his weight.
Before Sakura could storm out of the room or attack Karin, Sasuke was there to grab her arm. He pulled her backwards at him.
Sasuke didn't say anything just held her tightly against him while she panted her anger out.
This reaction was long time coming. The past few days listening Suigetsu's babbling and then Karin and Suigetsu's bickering had now crossed the line. Sasuke might have the patience to ignore them to an extent, but today was the day that Sakura reached her breaking point.
Suigetsu had bruises all over his backside as they headed out of the village.
"You weren't kidding about your strength." He muttered with a pout as he rubbed his sore neck. Sakura's finger prints were all over his neck, but she refused to heal him. Karin either wasn't keen on letting the guy but her and had backed away from the room as quickly as possible before it could come to it.
In the end, Suigetsu was the one to clean up the room and apologize the inn keeper about the state of their room.
Sakura had stayed silent ever since and opted to stay near Sasuke and as far away from Karin and Suigetsu. It was completely different to the way they had arrived to the village. Sakura didn't want to risk having another go at trying to crush Suigetsu.
Although it had felt good to let off some steam, Sakura was embarrassed by her reaction. Even though, no one was scolding her for it or saying bad things to her, she couldn't help the bang in her chest.
Suigetsu, actually, was thrilled to finally see some of her powers. He looked just like Naruto did when someone taught him a new technique.
But what puzzled Sakura even more was her reaction to all of this. Why the hell was she embarrassed with what she did? She had done that same thing to Naruto several times before he had left to train with Jiraya. It was a normal thing for her to do when the blond knuckle-head got on her nerves.
Eventually, she came to the conclusion that she has known Naruto for ages. They were at the Academy together and then in a genin team with Sasuke. He was like a brother to her, whereas Suigetsu was more like a stranger.
She had only just met him so they were even barely friends.
"Wait!" Karin's high voice pitched suddenly.
Everyone stopped dead in their tracks and looked at her. She had a look of concentration on her face with her brows lowered.
"Someone's coming." She murmured.
"Is it an enemy?" Suigetsu grinned from the side anticipating a fight.
"I'm not sure, but they're strong."
"Are there more than one?" Sasuke asked and glanced towards Sakura.
"Yes, two or three. And they're heading right in our direction. At first, they headed South, but they suddenly switched their path. It's unusual and shouldn't be ignored." Karin explained.
"Let's keep moving." Sasuke said, "When they're near enough to strike alert us Karin."
She nodded in response and the group started they journey again.
Sakura's palms sweated and her heart rate picked up. This was very unusual.
After a few minutes Sasuke asked, "Are they still coming after us?"
"They are. Their movements mimic us. There's no way they are not after us."
"Maybe someone got mad at you for killing Orochimaru." Suigetsu suggested with a laugh. "I wouldn't doubt that even for a second. Maybe it's Kabuto."
"That's not Kabuto, you idiot!"
"As if you would know that!"
"Shut up!"
"Quit it, now." Sakura raised her voice and that shut both of them up. Instinctively, Suigetsu's fingers brushed the back of his neck again as he looked away.
"Here they come." Karin said lowly after another minute and then Sakura finally felt them.
The group quickly dispersed in different direction as a massive rock flew towards them. It came out of nowhere violently moving and almost catching all of them off guard if it wasn't for Karin.
Sakura moved herself back to where they came from, trying to place as much space between her and the attackers. She couldn't be sure if they were from Konoha until she saw them, but she wasn't going to take that risk of them seeing her. Of course, if they were already following them they might be after her.
Suigetsu's battle cry rattled the forest around her, and it was closely followed by a sound of trees falling down. Sakura leaned her back against the tree trunk lowering herself in a crouch. She did her best to hide her chakra to not alert the enemy.
Sakura listened carefully of her surroundings that had silenced for a second. The only sound was her heart beat that had slowed down from her concentration. She was quite proud of herself, because she sensed her opponent even before he did. Quickly moving and thinking she loaded her fist with her chakra while turning around and smashing right through the tree.
The massive tree easily gave under the sheer power of Sakura's strike, hitting her opponent straight and pushing him into the forest.
Sakura didn't lower her guards as she landed on the ground in a fighting stance as she waited for the attacker. A dark cloaked figure jumped from under the dust and dirt directly attacking her.
Swiftly, Sakura dug out her kunai as a series of fine needles were thrown at her. She easily dodged them, but wasn't given a chance to recover before her opponent was directly next to her. She blocked his strikes efficiently avoiding his fists and legs.
Making sure that she wasn't overusing her chakra, Sakura carefully planned and urged her chakra into her hands once again. It was easy and graceful as she blocked another hit and hit with her free hand. The hit landed way too easily for Sakura's liking, but she felt content as her strength went right at its target. The shinobi flew backwards once again and this time much faster and harder.
His body left a deep dent into the ground.
This time Sakura jumped right after his lying body and grabbed him by the neck. She twisted the hood off his face and rage boiled her.
She recognized the Hidden Lead shinobi.
The Elders were really after her.
The man sneered at her and tried shrugging her away, but Sakura grabbed him tighter, "Why are you doing this!?" she yelled.
He spat blood and tried kicking Sakura's right leg from under her. She swayed his momentum by pulling him upwards so his leg flailed uselessly in the air.
"Tell me!" She shouted again.
A loud roar alerted Sakura of Suigetsu coming towards her and she barely had time to let go of her opponent to back away. Unsteadily, she jumped and landed on her backside as Suigetsu's large blade was swung towards their enemy.
The sound of metal hitting flesh was dominant in the air even though in her position Sakura was unable to see anything.
Unfortunately, Suigetsu had killed the man and Sakura still didn't have her answer.
She almost wanted to yell at Suigetsu for stopping her from getting her answer, but before she could have done exactly like that Sasuke was already next to her pulling her towards their route to Jūgo. Karin was already at their side as they moved from tree to tree.
Sakura trembled from the sheer emotion running through her. This time she was even more aggravated than before and confused. What had she done to deserve this? If she remembered correctly she had never done anything to insult the Elders.
From under all of her thinking, Sakura was able to hear Karin's worried voice, "We need to move now! More might be coming!"
Thanks for reading this chapter! I know it's not THE long chapter I said I would write, but I guess the nap I took an hour ago was a little too long. I don't have more time to write this if I want to update this today, so I cut it short.
In the next chapter we will see more of the aftermath of the battle. I know it's not the best battle in the world, but I'm still very new to this whole shinobi world type of fighting.
Thanks for reviewers:
Claudette14
Meech Macko
ILoveSxS
Angelluv96
ShikamaiNara
IheartSasuSakuIta
Emily da great
Peppei
Lady Rini
Uchiha Misaki
Guest
Guest
Guest
Guest
Guest
guest
Leave a review! They give me more inspiration to write and seriously make my gloomy days much brighter!
- Jakura