It had been five days – five days were a short time in a time of pre-war. Temari leaned back into her seat, her hands folded neatly over her stomach in a bored fashion. The soft dripping from the anti-dote rushing into the ninja before her was a calming effect…The woman had already come this far, the chances of the woman surviving had grown a lot these past few days. However, Temari was worried about something completely else. She could imagine Naruto hanging over the bed day and night, holding the lifeless hand into his – his eyes hoping that she would wake up.
Temari turned her eyes to the window, resisting the urge to pull away the curtains and let the sun in. the woman in the hospital bed suddenly made a small cough and clenched her hands. It caused the sand-woman to focus back on the small form of the former leading medic of Konoha.
The pink hair had in the following days lost its shine, and gotten a greyish look along with the usual tanned skin. Haruno Sakura panted hard as her body was struggling through the fever cramps. Temari scooted closer and took Sakura's hand into her own, stroking the knuckles with the outmost tenderness. The coughing continued and Sakura's heart rate quickened. However, it was nothing to worry about – it just showed that the anti-dote was beginning to take its affect.
It would take days for Sakura to wake up – and she wasn't so sure that they had many days left.
-
Tohru didn't like the estate. It was darker and a whole lot dustier than Konoha or Rock, yet she knew this would be a place she had to stay in for a long time. Small feet turned around a corner and looked at the staircase going to the roof. Her brown eyes narrowed and she brushed a few locks of her dark hair behind her ear, with small careful steps she made her way up the sandy concrete. As Tohru met the hot sunlight she needed to shield her eyes because of its strength. She turned her head and searched the roof for Naruto – and to her own surprise she found him sitting on a bench not so far away. His hands held unto his knees hard as if he was going through an insane amount of pain.
Tohru then took the first step towards him….
-
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at Temari sleeping at her desk. It was an unusual sight, to see stacks of paper surround the sand woman, her head somewhere buried underneath thin pieces of wood.
He walked over to her and with a quick movement of his hand shook her by the shoulder. She shot up from her desk, grabbing the table hard as if in shock. Shikamaru's eyes were a bit wide with amusement when he saw the look on her face. Temari was panting hard and tried to somehow figure out what had just happened.
"……you were sleeping?" he asked, even though it was the most obvious thing in the world
Temari look just as shocked as him. "I was what!?"
He quickly snatched a chair from his left and sat down, "Got a tough week eh?" he had this usual bored expression on his face and she just go the sudden urge to smack him hard in the head.
However, she did none of these things and just rubbed her temple. "Yeah – you try being the main manager of the Suna economy and at the same time being very worried about Haruno-san"
Shikamaru nodded as if he understood something Temari obviously felt he would never do. "How is she doing?"
"Better … the antidote is slowly breaking down the poison." She took some chocolate on her desk and threw it into her mouth. "But its defiantly hard -…I am a bit puzzled, has Naruto-kun visited her yet?"
Shikamaru shook his head in denial. "No, he hasn't"
She leaned back into her chair, hands on her stomach. He couldn't help but admire her fingers for a second, how they seemed a bit hard yet gentle as she held her stomach almost protectively. It reminded him of their time in Konoha, how often she would sit like that. But it would be with a very much larger stomach. Temari turned her gaze to the ceiling. "I feel like there is something Naruto isn't telling us…"
"Make love to me."
Temari almost fell down of her chair in shock. She knew Shikamaru was very open about how he felt – to him it was too troublesome to lie anyway. However, she couldn't help but feel very surprised by his sudden request. "W…what!?"
"We're going into a war – you know how I feel …I have nothing to lose by this"
"Are you crazy!?" she stood up, her face growing hotter for every minute that passed. Shikamaru went silent. "I can't believe you think of me as a woman whom you can take advantage of when she's down!? Eh!? Well – there's a surprise in store for you then – get out!"
Shikamaru sat still.
"Get out Nara Shikamaru!"
Yet Temari of the Sand found herself being unable to move just as him.
-
Hinata took the water silently, letting Neji examine her for any wounds that she might have gotten. Hanabi was panting beside her. The younger woman had been fighting off various enemies and gotten even worse wounds than Hinata. However, Neji was afterall Hinata's…
"Hey – sister." Hanabi spoke out loud, making both Neji and Hinata turn towards her. Hinata lowered the bottle with water and gave it to Neji. "Yes?"
"Do you think….we'll die?"
Hinata got a sad expression on her face. "Of course we're not getting killed. You and Neji are strong enough to fight off any enemy we might encounter," but then she gave her a smile. Hanabi though didn't look.
"So…..this is war?" she asked. Neji gulped down the last bit of the water, and stuffed the bottle into the bag. Hinata turned her face to him, but he didn't look back at her. She bit her lip.
"Yes…this is war."
Hanabi nodded to herself. "Even in war the strongest people can die." She clenched her fist. "We can all die."
"Yeah…."
-
"Higher up with the leg! God! Who taught you this stuff – it is useless in a battle!" Tsunade yelled across the field to a desperately panting Naruto. Jirayia pushed his lips and frowned. "You're insulting me! I know what I was doing!"
Tsunade rubbed her forehead and grunted in frustration. "Well, it won't help him in a battle, he needs to get better at his taijutsu."
The white-haired Sannin raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you implying I am a bad teacher?"
"No – but if he has to become Hokage he needs to be better than everybody else in the village." She turned her head to him. "And that means both you and me – no time for mistakes, Naruto needs to know everything."
Jirayia couldn't help but agree.
-
Tohru sat silently in the hospital room, the curtains shielding her from the sun. The little girl had her hands in her lap, her eyes closed painfully as she tried not to cry. She could hear how Sakura's slow heart rate began to quicken a bit. Tohru turned her head upwards to stare at Sakura.
The older woman's eyes slowly opened as she tried to figure out where she was. Tohru smiled sadly, yet excited. "Sakura-san…" she spoke in a low tone.
Sakura turned her head, her eyes clouded in confusion. It just made Tohru smile even more and scooted closer on her chair. "How do you feel? Sakura-san?"
She coughed slightly and weakly opened her mouth yet no words managed to escape her lips. The younger girl just nodded with understanding. "Temari-san said that you were lucky you came so early to Suna, if it weren't for the Sand squad you wouldn't have survived." Tohru brushed some of her dark hair behind her ear.
"Naruto-san and I came out very fine – so don't worry about us." She bit her lip wanting to cry. "N…now you just have to get healthy again…o…okay?"
The voice was weak and exhausted, but it was there. "Tohru-chan…." Sakura closed her eyes again and with a shaking arm she moved her hand to take Tohru's. The smaller girl grabbed the hand without hesitation and let out a small sob. She rubbed Sakura's knuckles, feeling the older woman just stare at her with a tired expression.
"I won't die…" she whispered again and this made Tohru break into a loud cry.
-
"Hanabi!" Hinata screamed as Neji dragged her with him, Hanabi left to fight off some of the sound ninjas. It had been quiet, way too quiet, Hinata had the distinct feeling that somehow they weren't alone. She was right.
So she watched how the Konoha ninja fell one by one, the strongest warriors having a sword through their chest.
There was just so much blood.
Now the only option was to run….
"Hanabi!" she screamed again, which only made Neji tuck unto her arm harder, forcing her to run faster. "goddamnit Hinata! Run!"
"We need to get Hanabi! We can't let her stay behind!" she tried to make him let go of her hand, but he wouldn't and just pulled harder. "We can't! Damnit! You have to run Hinata-sama! I tell you to run!"
"What if she dies!? We can't let her die! She is my sister!"
"Shut up! Run! Run!" she could hear his broken voice and sense how terrified he was. It couldn't be true, this was Neji, he was never afraid.
Then a giant explosion was heard from behind them and they turned to see a huge part of the forest being caught in the flames.
"HANABI!"
-
Kabuto panted hard as he barely avoided being caught by the flames. He never thought it would be necessary to burn of a large of the forest, but it apparently was. A lot of the ninjas had escaped – but at least he had managed to kill a huge amount too ….amongst those…a Hyuuga royalty.
Suddenly he got a great reason to smirk.
-
Sakura sat up in her bed, her bare feet touching the ground as the medic nin needed to help her steady on her feet. This was why Sakura had always hated being poisoned. The whole affair by having your body slowly recovering from the numbness was even worse than when you were under the poisoning itself.
She looked shortly to the vase at her bed, only Tohru and Temari had been kind enough to visit her. The memory of her confession to Naruto made her want to get poisoned all over again and die – at least it would hurt less.
"Ah! Good Sakura-san! Just one more step!!"
Why was the nurse so annoying?
-
Temari was blown away – Shikamaru sat in her chair again!
"What are you doing here?" She spoke in a low dangerous voice. He didn't bother to answer and continued to play with baby Asuma in his lap. Temari frowned even deeper. "What are you doing here?"
"Have you told him?" he asked rather bored.
She blinked, crossing her arms. "What do you mean?"
"Have you told Gaara that the child is mine…?"
-
You sit there in your heartache…
-
Naruto sat up, feeling his face grow red in the everlasting sun. It didn't bother him much though. He had other things on his mind. His hand wandered to his heart, grabbing it slightly at the thought of what had happened between him and Sakura.
Had she deceived him so she could get information to the rock and the Akatsuki? Did she really?...Did she?
A shadow suddenly jumped towards him, but he didn't move.
There stood none other than the ever knowing Ino, probably from the Konoha squad. "S…Shikamaru! Where is he!?"
Naruto didn't look at her; instead he let his gaze wander to the cool steel of the railing. Ino were panting hard, her hands clutching a wound on her shoulder."…t…the Konoha squad, who were supposed to assist the people from Konoha to Suna got attacked by Rock and Oto nins…"
He turned this time to look at her. "Apparently the rock has gotten an alliance with the new Konoha, and wants to use Konoha against the ones who fled."
"How many did we lose?" he asked, feeling the anger becoming stronger.
"At least 50 people – among those Hyuuga Hanabi and the Daimyo's son."
His eyes widened at the remark. "What?"
"Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji are on their way here…"
Suddenly Naruto wasn't there anymore.
-
Hinata looked up, her eyes teary and the only thing she could see was Naruto standing before her, his eyes wide with fear. "H…Hinata – are you alright?" Neji scoffed and decided to walk away at the moment.
"N…Naruto!" she exclaimed and hugged him hard, burying her face into his chest, while he embraced her back. Of course he knew she was married, and it wasn't appropriate that he hugged her like this. However, Hinata was grieving and this was all he could do for her.
"Naruto-kun…Ha..Hanabi, she…she…"
He placed his head on top of hers, as he cradled her, with Neji making sure he didn't do anything inappropriate.
Without Naruto realising, Sakura was completely gone from his mind…
-
"The Godaime Tsuchikage has summoned you Hanara Sakura." The rock nin spoke, and quickly pushed her into the office. "He says that he is worried about his health, and wants you to do a check on him."
Sakura looked confused, but none the less walked in and stood still. "You summoned me?"
The older man sat at his desk, his hands folded as he looked upon her in deep concentration. He licked his lip and looked down at his table in sadness. "Sakura-san, you must know that I have enjoyed having in my country, you have been a great help to us …- but it seems that we should stop fooling around."
She tensed and clenched her hands, drawing chakra into them. The Tsuchikage continued to stare at her. "You may have fooled my country and I give you credit for that – but I have to say…"
She could feel herself getting frightened.
"…that you have not fooled me, Haruno Sakura."
-
Sakura sat up quickly, panting hard, one hand clutching her shirt tightly. Her hands were trembling against her chest, as she was remembering a horrible nightmare. The green eyes searched the room, afraid that she might see something – she gave a small gasp when she saw a ghostly figure at her window.
The old man turned around, his face white and dried blood came out of his nose. Sakura scooted farther away from him. ".w…what do you want?"
He moved his hand to point at the approaching Rock army. His mouth opened slowly. "Protect them – or you'll regret it."
"B…but you're dead…" she whispered. "You died 3 years ago…"
He gave her a smirk, and then disappeared as Sasuke had done a few days earlier, leaving Sakura alone in the hospital room, wide-eyed and scared for her life.
-
Hinata sat in the small hospital room, getting her wounds tended by one of the nurses. She watched Neji sit on the opposite side of her, his hands folded and his gaze towards the floor. The nurse was busy tending a large wound on his arm and he hissed slightly when she washed it.
Hinata looked extremely guilty, the traces of tears still there. It wasn't very Hyuuga-like to embrace a man you weren't married to. She could feel her father's disapproving gaze and Hanabi's disgusted expression. She needed to clench her hands in order to not cry again, until Neji spoke.
"I have been asked to assist the Kazekage with the Konoha business. So you'll need to entertain yourself, I propose you start training, we are afterall going to war."
Hinata gulped and looked at her lap. "Yes, Neji-nii-san."
He nodded. "Good – and I propose that you perhaps might figure out what has happened between Naruto-sama and Sakura-san. Something tells me it has something to do with the upcoming war."
She closed her eyes. "Yes, Neji-nii-san."
"And start stepping up for yourself, you're the Hyuuga clan Head now, you'll have to lead the Hyuugas."
"Yes, Neji-nii-san."
She glanced at him shortly, seeing the sad expression on his face. Hinata bit her lip, knowing very well he was thinking about TenTen and Lee now.
Lee had died shortly after Naruto and Sakura had left Konoha, and TenTen in sadness, had gone on a suicidal mission – she didn't return. Hinata knew what sort of feelings Neji held for his former team-mates.
War made all people alone.
-
This is chapter 18 – uuuuh – aren't you people excited?
Next chapter will reveal – 'who'll leave?'
Everyone who wants to guess, shall say who and why the person will leave. X3
I have posted a whole lot of clues in this chapter, and I think this was an annoying chapter, especially because it has been in my mind for a long time. If you find gramma mistakes or spelling mistakes contact me - and I will try as soon as possible to correct them.
All rights to Kishi XD
By the way - none of the ones who guessed got everything right in my little quiz.