Temari sat on the wooden log with a bored expression. Earlier that evening Shikamaru had refused to participate in any kind of dancing. He also preferred the company of Konoha nins over her. Temari's mouth turned into a pout and she turned her gaze to her son on her lap. Asuma played with a wooden stick he had found a few minutes ago. Her hand touched his black hair and frowned.
Shikamaru and she had without a doubt grown closer this past year – and calling the relationship a friendship was far from what they were. He had never proclaimed he loved her or that he wanted her more than anything else, but Shikamaru surely showed that he indeed wanted to stay by her side. Whenever he could, he would come to her tent. Not once giving her a chance to speak before he had thrown her on the bed in her room, and the rest is history Temari would tell herself often.
Her eyes wandered to the bonfire in the middle and a hand went to her stomach. She bit her lip, fearing that letting him into her life again might cause her more trouble than she already had. Temari closed her eyes and remembered a conversation she had had with Gaara. His face never showed any emotion. Or rather, she could never tell what he felt, even when Temari was his dearly beloved older sister. The conversation had indeed been strange. Gaara had been mad, Kankoru told her much later.
Gaara's wife has yet to carry children. Temari even questioned if they had even dared to step beyond a small cherry kiss – the thought of Gaara kissing Harrah seemed distant and weird. So, the Kazekage had in a very monotone voice told her that if she had a relationship with Shikamaru Nara, then it was time to tell him – she would not be punished or seen upon as abnormal. But it was important that he knew how Temari saw him. She had answered truthfully and without saying anything out loud. She hinted that Shikamaru was the father of her child. The conversation had ended with Temari being sent to build a camp for the rebel forces and Suna …with Shikamaru.
Asuma looked up and suddenly wailed as he reached up for his mother. Temari's frown deepened and took him under his tiny arms. "You're beginning to look more and more like your father – complains when you can't get what you want easily", she looked into the dark eyes which he had inherited from his father and pouted. "Why didn't you get my beautiful looks? You would catch girls even better than you farther if that had happened." The little boy just continued to wail and tried to hug his mother, but she held him from her chest. "I already fed you an hour ago!" Temari exclaimed defeatedly.
Asuma pouted at his mother and kept quiet; with a swift move of her hand she ruffled his hair. "Good boy – now teach your father that too"
If Temari had to be truthful – she didn't mind Shikamaru being the father at all. A smile made its way to the corners of her mouth. A small shriek from the other side of the fire made her look up, and she saw the already legendary adopted daughter of Naruto, Tohru, tucking wildly on Sakura's shirt. The pink haired kunoichi looked slightly uncomfortable of the thought of dancing and glanced at her bottle of sake. Temari couldn't help but feel that the girl had taken after her teacher in more ways than one.
She then turned her gaze and saw the Hokage sit by himself. Naruto was staring at the Tohru and Sakura, his face unreadable. However, he looked as if he was a bit…saddened or stressed. The rumours about the Hokage having nightmares had spread quickly through the camp. Many had asked what he could be dreaming about that could be so terrible. Temari had the feeling that Naruto's feelings for the pink-haired kunoichi might not be as hateful as many believed.
Asuma chew slightly on his stick.
Naruto was lonely, no doubt about that – even Shikamaru had had a hard time cheering him up lately – perhaps …perhaps…
"Hey Temari" a body sat down beside her, the scent of alcohol stinging the air around him. Her lover, the shadow-nin looked at her, who now had a relaxed and less serious expression on her face.
"You look great."
….
He was drunk.
…
"You haven't said that for three years" Temari muttered in a bored voice and handed him a bottle of water. "You smell horrible." He took the bottle and sipped slightly.
"Really?"
"Yeah – which means you'll have to sleep in your own tent tonight," when she said that Shikamaru's hand grabbed hers as he smirked.
"You don't want me to do that Temari-chan".
She narrowed her eyes and pushed him away. "I don't like when you're drunk" she tensed when his head hit her shoulder with a thud, the smirk never disappearing. She looked around nervously. Luckily most of the ninjas around the bonfire was too drunk to notice the act of loving displayed before them – or rather, one-sided loving.
"Mmm – Temari…I've been thinking" She just groaned in reply, and one of his hands sneaked around her neck, holding her in an almost tender way. Temari hated when Shikamaru was drunk. "…I think…I want to marry you…" Temari's eyes snapped towards him and even Asuma grew quiet in her arms. Before she could manage to open her arms and respond his hold tightened and the smirk was gone. "I think…I really…really want to stay with you …until I die"
Temari looked at him incredulously and sighed. "You're drunk – we'll talk this over when you're sober again"
"I will stay with you…I want us to continue having a family…"
She groaned. "Shikamaru…"
There was no response and she felt his grip loosen, his head buried deeply into her neck as he breathing grew deeper. She brought her son closer to her and looked at Tohru who had managed to drag Naruto to her and Sakura, so she could talk to both persons at the same time. Naruto was stiff and tense. The same could be said about Sakura. Shikamaru woke up slightly and released Temari, then sat up insecurely as he looked into the bonfire.
"I would like to go back now…"
She nodded and took Asuma in her arms. "Let's go back"
-
Orochimaru looked at the paper he had just received. The sign in the top was the official signia from the land of the rocks and the letters underneath it made the Nanadaime smirk in victory. The Tuschikage had come to know of his plans of destroying Konoha and was now willingly cooperating with him to get rid of Naruto…The snake sannin's gaze turned to the window and saw a pink haired woman walking through the street towards her house further down. His hand stroked the paper in a contemplative manner.
-
Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling of his tent above him. The sun had just risen and he yawned, a hand scratching the side of his temple. How many weeks had passed since she had arrived? He looked at his hand that scratched his forehead and spoke out loud. "Five weeks…"
He groaned at the thought of Tohru constantly complaining about him not talking to Sakura. Ever since Naruto had decided to tell her (rather harshly) that he didn't care about Sakura, Tohru shut her mouth and glared at him whenever she saw him. It was not that often Tohru saw him – mostly he would be too busy with duties and fighting to see her. It hurt Naruto, but he was daily updated with her progress in training – it made him proud to know that Tohru was better at ninjutsu than most of the other kids…
Naruto sat up and searched for his discarded clothes – today would be another busy day.
-
Raika looked up from his papers and saw the Tuschikage look out the window with grief. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright Tuschikage-sama?" the brown haired younger man looked away from the window and towards his trusted advisor.
"I have been thinking, Raika." He rubbed his chin in thought. "My father – the Godaime Tsuchikage – he was with Haruno Sakura in the hours before his death, yes?" Raika looked down at his papers. "That has not been confirmed, sir – and everybody knows that your father died from a heart failure – he was an old man. It was his time anyway." The Tuschikage's face turned into a slight annoyance. "But she is a medic – she would be able to fake his death"
"Sir" Raika said sternly. "You may hold a grudge towards Konoha and the former Hokage – and you may even hate Haruno-san for entering our grounds without being detected. But now is not the time to jump to conclusions – if you want to be as great as your father, you must to be logical."
The Tuschikage sighed and looked out on the grey sky and the hard rain hitting the ground.
-
Gaara sat with his wife, Neji, Temari, Shikamaru and Naruto, with his legs crossed and the usual blank form on his face. Temari leaned forward, her finger pointing on a spot. "Currently, the Sand has sent out several groups of ninjas" her finger shot towards a place towards the north. "Kankuro and several other ninjas are placed here, looking for information regarding the rock ninjas." She then moved her finger closer to Konoha. "Here, we have Baki doing SS missions, which have not concluded as yet."
She moved the finger back to the camp and to the left, towards the Sand country. "Sakura and several others of our younger nins took a trip towards Suna in order to give the capital information regarding our progress. They should return in a few days" Gaara nodded and leaned backwards, Naruto rubbed his chin and then pointed towards a red flashy line indicating how much they had conquered.
"We will release an attack tomorrow which will hopefully move our forces closer" his hand moved even closer to Konoha. "Closer to enemy lines – but this will mean it will be necessary for us to move the camp closer to the border, in order to have a more effective attack." Gaara nodded at this while Harrah sat completely still.
Neji looked at Shikamaru. "You have any ideas? We need a good strategy to gain more land." The shadow nin looked from Naruto to Neji and then to Gaara. His hand was placed on his lap and he was about to open his mouth when a ninja ran into the tent. "Kazekage-sama! Haruno Sakura's group is back – it is terrible!"
All of the people in the room looked up startled, Gaara narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"
"Half of the group is dead! And the rest has been wounded." Neji looked up, his eyes slightly wide. "Who attacked them?" the ninja was panting hard and lifted a hand to signal a pause.
Naruto noticed the new found interest in the gaze of Neji's, but chose to ignore it and focussed on the sand nin, who struggled to breath – after a short break, "We do not know…Haruno Sakura refuses to speak and the others are too wounded to be asked about it at the moment"
Naruto stood up, his hand waved for Shikamaru to follow him. "I need to talk to you" the shadow nin stood up and both of them exited the tent.
When they had walked for a while, the former hokage looked at his friend. "Who do you think did it?"
Shikamaru raised his eyes and met Naruto's gaze. "I have my theories. It would've been easier if Sakura wished to cooperate with us at times. She is not making her shoddy reputation better by doing this." Naruto nodded at what Shikamaru said, and the shadow-nin continued. "My guess would be Akatsuki."
There was silence for a short moment.
"Why?" Naruto's voice came slowly.
Shikamaru cracked his knuckles shortly and looked straight ahead. "It is just a theory of mine – but, she has been attacked before, when she was in Konoha a year ago and when you and she were in the cottage. Both those attacks were by members of the Akatsuki – or rather, the first time in Konoha Itachi and Kisame came and interrupted her trial and some people say they saw Itachi go the same direction as she. Also, it has been proven that Itachi and a lightning-nin attacked her after she left Suna."
He turned his head to Naruto seriously. "She is a great ninja – even Rock ninjas barely stand a chance against her and that can only mean that someone on her level or higher must've attacked." Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. "We both know that she is capable of bringing down a kage, but it will not be without difficulties"
Naruto looked from Shikamaru and then back to the road before him. "…"
The shadow nin did the same and continued to speak. "She endangers the camp – she is good in battle, but not that good for us to keep her. Especially not if I am right and Akatsuki is after her – they would not stop to prevent destroying the camp." Naruto didn't say anything and looked deep in thought, his companion shrugged his shoulders. "She is Gaara's to keep, he decides if Sakura is going to get kicked out or not. I'm sure that's only a minor detail, your word is law here."
Naruto stopped and crossed his arms. "We can't lose focus on Orochimaru, especially now. Distractions and those who hurt our cause must be removed." He turned around and started to walk towards his tent.
-
Hinata looked at the woman sitting further down in the tent alone – her pink hair drenched with blood and her hands folded in deep thought. Sakura's eyes were distant and her shoulders tense. From time to time Hinata could see Sakura shake her head in disbelief. The Hyuuga woman turned away and focussed on the task before her. The Suna nins looked miserable – their wounds looking like they had been blown into their skin.
Hinata couldn't help but turn her gaze again – the look on Sakura's face showed nothing but regret and sorrow…Everyone wondered what would happen to her now.
Sakura brought a hand to her stomach, stroking the bandages covering the flesh wound and closed her eyes.
-
The small house in the lightning country was illuminated with a soft light from a lamp. A small boy with dark hair was sitting on the terrace, watching the fireflies chasing each other in an almost wonderful dance. His hands held a small wooden sword in his hands. The older brother was too busy discussing with his parents to play with him. His almost black eyes turned from the fireflies to look at his parents and brother in the living room.
He couldn't hear much besides the occasional words– war – death – food. He pouted and jumped down on the grass and walked towards their small pond full of fish. He bent his head so his face was reflected in the dark water…his eyes widened when his mirror image became older and his eyes…red.
"Kozuki!" a voice came from the small cottage and his mother looked at him with a kind smile. "Can you please help your father with some stuff in the shop will you?"
Kozuki stood up and nodded. "Yes mother…" the dark haired woman smiled and turned to look at the pond, her hands folded together neatly. It had been a blessing that she had received two sons in a row – but…her youngest seemed to make several ninjas remember something and it was always the same name. Sas…
"Mom! Come here! Dad needs you!"
-
Naruto sat at a lunch table in the huge dinner tent, his table covered with various papers of locations and mission reports. The attack on the sound forces had gone well, and they had moved the border even closer to Konoha. They were winning. It was no lie that he was tired and exhausted, but on the inside his was happy. Happy for the turn of events after years of turmoil and chaos.
A larger man sat down opposite from him and Naruto looked up and met the face of Jirayia who was already busy consuming a bottle of sake. "Yo, Kage-san!" his overly cheerful voice echoed through the mostly emptied tent. People were already starting to pack their stuff and get themselves ready for the journey. All they needed was a safe route to travel.
"Yo, Ero-sennin" the frog master glared at his student. "I told you already, don't call me that – haven't you grown up at all these years!?" Naruto shrugged and looked down at the papers again, his face drawn into a serious expression. Jiraiya pushed the bottle towards him.
"Drink kid! It'll loosen you up"
Naruto shook his head. "I don't like the taste." The frog master looked at him surprised and in disbelief. "This is not how I trained you! You can't tell me that you don't like to drink sake!" The former Hokage glanced at his teacher annoyed.
"I don't like it – end of story"
Jirayia gave him a thoughtful smile. "So what are your plans – I heard that you were going to move the camp." Naruto nodded and turned a page.
"Yeah, I am going to check out some routes tomorrow, and then we'll move the camp the day after tomorrow." The frog master nodded and drank some more of the sake before him.
"Tsunade would be proud of you…"
Naruto cracked a small forced smile. "Right."
-
Gaara folded his hands and looked up at the woman before him. He could see the dark bags underneath her eyes. She probably had not had much sleep after working on the clinic the past few days.
"Sakura." he started and looked at the file beside him, reports of a dark cloaked man with blond hair had been observed, but it was not a good description. Temari had tried to get information out of Sakura, but she had refused to cooperate with anyone. "I have a mission for you."
The pink-haired woman looked at him, non-responsive.
"You must've heard we're moving the camp. We're trying different routes to see which one that is the best, however, one of the routes is past an old Akatsuki hide-out. Since you have much information concerning Akatsuki we expect that you will be able to create a route that avoids them"
Sakura tensed slightly at the mention, but nodded. "Who will I have to escort?"
"Uzumaki Naruto, I expect that even though the two of you are not the…best of friends, you will show him the correct route" he showed her a map. "Here is the map and the area you will lead him through and where the next camp will be. He will meet you at the exit in the afternoon"
She looked at him for a moment before nodding again. "Yes, Kazekage-sama."
It started to rain outside – the arrival of autumn.
-
Tsunade sat on her bed with her hands folded before her. Jirayia sitting before her holding her them as he tried to comfort her. Her eyes were empty and she glanced at the floor underneath them. The famous medic ninja's shoulders were tense and she clutched the bloody crystal within her hands – a gift she had given to Dan – but now…he was gone…
"Tsunade…" the taller male before her spoke softly, his eyes clearly showing the sorrow by seeing her in this state. However, she spoke before him. "I had a dream last night…"
He didn't say anything. She bit her lips and closed her eyes. "I saw a boy…or rather…a man…with blond hair. He reminded me so much about Nanaki and…Dan, he even carried this necklace around his neck." She looked up, tears streaming down her face and she drew in a large breath. "I want to give this necklace to that boy…"
Jirayia looked at her before nodding. "Yeah – give it to him."
-
It was raining. Raining hard. The road ahead of them was covered in mud and they were both drenched. Naruto walked a few feet behind the pink haired lady who was examining the area in an almost paranoid fashion. They were both chilled to the bone, but continued on – rain had never bothered to stop a ninja before. A river was running on their left, but to get down to it you had to climb down a rather steep hill and avoid smashing into the occasional trees on the way.
He turned to look at Sakura who had her hidden her face under the very same cloak she had worn when she arrived, but the same could be said about him. He hated his own cloak, it stung and scratched and it was even ugly. However, he had to take what he could get and that was all that mattered. Naruto sighed and looked around – he had spent all day having various ninjas showing him routes here and there to the designated place for the new camp.
This would be the last one and of course, it was with the woman, whom he had not talked to for more than a month plus a year. If you don't count their meeting as a conversation.
It made him remember the conversation he had with Shikamaru the other day. Their suspicions of the attacker being an Akatsuki had been confirmed – it was Deidara who had attacked. Naruto looked at her waist, and tried to imagine where he must've hit her during the fight. He squinted his eyes and he was sure he could see her tense slightly whenever the wound hurt. But that didn't make any sense. Had she not healed it?
The rain intensified and he fastened his pace slightly and looked around. She did the same. They walked like that for hours, in complete silence.
When the rain seemed to lessen Naruto turned to gaze at Sakura's back once more. What was she doing? Why was she still here? Why was Akatsuki after –
"Stop" her voice spoke in a whisper almost. He walked up beside her and looked around, before noticing the small hole into the ground. "What is this?" he asked with curiosity in his voice.
Sakura bent down and picked up a small rock and threw it at the spot. Nothing happened.
"It is one of the traps Zetsu would make – a pit trap." She threw another rock at the ground even harder, but nothing happened. "It seems as if it is malfunctioning. Good, then we won't have to turn around the-"
Her eyes widened when the earth underneath her suddenly collapsed. The trap didn't work as intended and the mud and earth created a landslide down the hill towards the river. Before Sakura could do anything she felt herself slip in the mud and was dragged with the stream.
"Shit!" Naruto's eyes widened and he jumped towards her, grabbing her arm hard. However, his feet slipped in the muddy surface as well. He fell into the mud seeing the river bank and the branch of a tree come close fast. Naruto quickly yanked her up and took her around the waist, grabbing the branch before him. Sakura screamed out as if she had been hurt badly.
The slide's momentum continued and before he knew it, the branch he held unto cracked and they was thrown towards the river. He held her tighter and could hear her gasp in pain, but that was all he sensed before he felt the icy water around himself. Naruto's arms still held her tight. The time he spent underneath the water seemed like an eternity before he finally emerged, trying to catch his breath.
He dragged Sakura up the water and he heard her cough up water. Naruto kept his hold on her arm , still making sure she wouldn't slip. Her chest heaved up and down and he turned to look at her. What surprised him was the look on her face – mixture between lack of air and extreme pain. He couldn't prevent the words, they just slipped out of him. "You okay?"
Her eyes turned to glare at him. "What are you doing!? You slipped on purpose didnt you! Aren't you supposed to be Hokage!?" Naruto narrowed his eyes and looked down at her.
"Well – aren't you supposed to be Sannin?"
Sakura was about to push away from him when the pain from her wound returned. Her eyes closed hard and her nails dug unintentionally into his arm. The annoyed look disappeared and Naruto bent down to see her face clearer. "Hey? Are you hurt anywhere? Did you get hit something when you fell?"
"It is nothing" she hissed and one of her hands went to her stomach. He looked thoughtful for a second, before speaking.
"Why are you lying? It is obvious that you have a wound –"
"I said it's nothing!"
He scowled and lessened his hold on her waist, but did not let go. "Of course it is nothing. But how do you expect me to go further down the route if my guide is wounded?"
"It will pass in a few minutes." He shook his head and lowered himself slightly and took his other arm underneath her legs, lifting her up in bridal style. If it didn't hurt too much she might have resisted, but all she did was give another hiss and Naruto could feel some blood touch his hand holding her around her waist. "It's the wound from the other day? When you were attacked, right? Why didn't you heal it?"
"Nothing" she spoke, and he just shook his head and stepped out of the river, over to the other side of the river, away from the slide. The rain had stopped and when he slowly sat her down on the ground in front of a tree. Sakura glared at him, one hand still holding her stomach. Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you not healing it?"
She pouted and looked the other way. "There was a slight infection. Takes more energy and hard to find ointments to heal it, and I don't have that." Naruto sat down beside her, rubbing his temple.
"I knew something like this was going to happen" he muttered.
There was an almost unbearable silence.
A leaf fell down from one of the trees and landed on Naruto's leg. Before he turned his face to it, Naruto could see the pained look on her face had lessened slightly. He sighed and turned to find some bandages in the small pouch he carried. He could feel her gaze turn from the river to him, as if wondering what he was doing. Before Sakura could say anything he turned towards her and forcefully removed the hand covering her bleeding stomach. Sakura's eyes widened.
With a swift move of his hand he unzipped her shirt quickly, but she pushed him away. "What are you doing!? We're in the middle of a forest and-!"
"I am trying to bandage your wound so it won't get anymore infected."
Sakura glared. "…" her hand grabbed the bandages and sat up straighter, but not without hissing slightly. Naruto just sat there, completely still, watching her slowly remove the old bandage in order to change it with the new one. His eyes turned from the wound to her face and he saw how it had turned from pain to a slight regret. But he decided not to ask and just watched her softly damp away the blood. It didn't take her long before the new bandage had been wrapped tightly around her waist and she zipped her shirt.
They sat in silence for a while before Sakura turned to look up at him. "Why are you staring?"
"No reason."
She was about to yell at him when he quickly took her hand and placed it on top of the wound. "Heal it. I can't drag you back to the camp. It will mean you will become a burden to us." Sakura looked at him and then down at his hand still covering her hand, before she in a quiet voice whispered.
"I told you already, healing infections is different than healing open wounds. You have to kill the bacteria and then afterwards you'll need to-"
Naruto removed his hand and waved it. "Hey, hey, I trained under Tsunade too. I know all about that, but you are the legendary Haruno Sakura, right? It should be an easy task for you to do." She looked down at the ground, the rain having completely stopped, leaving both of them soaked and muddy.
"It takes me a great amount of energy… If we're to be ambushed then my attacks won't be that powerf- " Naruto quickly raised his hand.
"Hey. There are two people here. You heal the wound, I'll take care of the bad guys" Sakura kicked the ground and crossed her legs.
"I can fight too! You shouldn't think of me as incapable of fighting just because I should heal a- hey why the hell are you laughing!?" her face become flushed when she noticed Naruto had turned away to hide a laugh. Her frown disappeared and he signalled with a finger that he would stop in a moment. The only sound that echoed through the forest was Naruto's muffled laughter. Sakura sighed and started to focus the chakra in her hand in order to do a healing jutsu.
"I can't believe I forgot how angry you can get" the frown came back.
"Well! Some of us have to be rational in this situation. I bet that you slipped on purpose, just so you could laugh at me now!" Naruto turned his back to her, looking slightly amused.
In that moment, it was as everything they had gone through was forgotten. Akatsuki, Konoha, the war, the rock – everything gone. All because of the single look he was giving her. Naruto was smiling and his voice was light. "You know, I don't feel like arguing, so heal yourself and we'll go back to the camp. This route is not safe with all of those traps." He then brought a hand to her face and grabbed a lock of wet hair. "You look like you need a bath."
Sakura growled. "So do you. You can't get any girl while looking like that." Naruto shrugged, his hand still not leaving her pink hair, as if he was examining the texture.
"Oh really? And you expect to get a man like that too? I can tell you, you look far from pretty with all that mud in your face. And it was you who dragged me with you." She opened her mouth in disbelief.
"Wait a minute! You jumped to save me."
He laughed and placed the hand on her head, ruffling her hair, treating her like a child. "Well, that is just because you're too much of a coward to admit that you're clumsy."
Sakura glared at him. "I am not a coward. You're the one who's crazy!"
"Crazy?" he pouted slightly and looked at the sky. "yeah – I am a bit crazy you know – who wouldn't have been crazy? I am running through a forest in the rain and I am laughing – I actually feel happy – hahahahah"
Her glare disappeared. "Happy?"
"Yeah! I mean, everything is going so well lately. We're winning the war, and hardly lose any ninjas any more! I feel like I can take on the world!" Naruto stood up, grinning. "Before you know it, I'll be back in Konoha! Kicking Orochimaru's butt!" his laughter continued through the forest. But when Naruto turned his eyes to look at her, his smile disappeared.
Sakura's head was bent downwards, her hands busily concentrating on putting the right amount of chakra into the wound. Her hands and arms were covered in mud and Naruto suddenly felt saddened. It was not so long ago when she would laugh with him as he proclaimed what he intended to do…Naruto missed that.
Naruto sat down in front of her, but she didn't look up and he felt that he didn't want to stay mad at her today. Why not just…stay happy? "Hey, you alright?"
She didn't look up. "Mmm, I am fine"
The raindrops started again and his looked at her hands, which were tenderly taking care of the wound. Naruto frowned. Why was Akatsuki always messing things up? Why were they always trying to make his life miserable, Gaara's life, even Tohru-chan's life too…and Sakura's life miserable. His hand reached out and carefully started to remove some of the dirt on her arm.
This time Sakura looked up and she met the usual blue eyes. His hand went from her arm to her hand, rubbing the rough skin tenderly. The green light never disappeared even though he continued to rub her fingers, her palm…
Naruto looked her and then down at her hand, before he scooted closer.
Itachi tightened his arms around Sakura, his red sharingan eyes illuminating the room. "She is mine…you lost her" Itachi's hand caressed the pink hair tenderly. "I had her before you…monster…she will be mine…"
"Give up"
Naruto's hand tightened on hers and just as he was about to say something, her other hand suddenly was placed on top of his. His blue eyes jumped up and met her green eyes. They looked at him calmly. No hate, no disgust…
"Why?" he whispered.
Sakura didn't say a thing.
The green light disappeared, signalling that she had finished healing the wound. She patted his hand and released it, before she was about to stand up. However, before she stood up fully a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her and pushed her into a full-hearted embrace. Naruto buried his head into the crook of her neck, holding her tightly against him. His voice wasn't weak – but it wasn't strong either. " a year…a year…"
When hearing him speak like that, she brought her own arms around him, clinging to him almost desperately – she whispered herself. "I am so sorry…" he shushed her and nuzzled his face into her hair. "please…don't…"
They sat like there for a long time, Naruto just holding her and her holding him.
Then he turned his head upwards, softly kissing her hair before pulling back. His hands were still on her waist, but his gaze was on the ground. "ah – I don't what came over me…" a hand clamped itself over his mouth, preventing him from speaking and he looked up. She looked as if she was begging.
"it…is alright…I don't mind…no questions…just…" she took a deep breath and slowly removed the hand, before a striking smile claimed her features. "it is just that…I missed this…"
Silence.
She then brought her hand back to dry some of the mud of her face.
"Sakura…"
Their gaze locked and it was as if everything disappeared – no mud – no past – no Sasuke – no Konoha – no war.
Naruto never managed to say anything else before her hands went to cup his face and her lips crashed against his. He was slightly taken back by Sakura's sudden movement, but his stomach was flying with glee. All of a sudden he just couldn't think of anything besides the woman before her and couldn't feel anything besides the wonderful sensation of her fingers against his skin, and their lips on lips.
His eyes closed and he brought one of his own hands to her neck, intensifying the situation they were in. He didn't care if they were covered with mud, rain – here she was …
…here she was…
And he just couldn't make himself stop.
Kisses turned into something more. Her hands found their way to his hair, tucking, pulling, but it never hurt. His hands were trembling as if he was afraid it was all a dream, yet he couldn't stop them – they needed to feel her – needed to know she was there. Sakura then started to kiss him almost desperately, while speaking.
"I am…so…sorry…" his pressed his lips towards hers again, preventing her from speaking any further. He couldn't bear to hear it – he didn't want to be reminded – not now at least.
The rain started again…
…and Naruto's lips were no longer on her lips, but her on her cheeks, her nose, her neck and lastly her forehead. They sat like that for several minutes before he stopped and turned his back up to stare at her. Her lips were slightly parted, but they were smiling.
"I missed you…"
The words made him embrace her harder again, bringing his lips down upon her neck. Trails of kisses covered every single piece of skin. Her hands grabbed his shirt in surprise and a slight gasp escaped her lips. His hands travelled down her back, holding her closer as if afraid she would disappear in any moment.
However, before he could possibly continue she cupped his face and kissed him on the lips again. Cherry kisses, passionate kissed, desperate kisses – you name it. Naruto couldn't prevent it, he felt like he had a huge bobble inside his stomach ready to burst any minute. If he had his way he wouldn't stop this, he would go on and …
"Naruto…" she gasped. He stopped and looked up at her, but no words escaped her mouth. Instead he cracked a smile and shook his head. "…it is raining…"
She looked up, her hands still on his shoulders. He stood up and yanked her up with him. "better go back to the camp – " she nodded and tried to brush off some of the dirt, but it was futile. They were drenched, but Sakura had not seen Naruto smile like that ever since she arrived. His hand went down and he took her hand in his as he spoke softly. "don't think…about what happened …a year ago" her smile faltered a bit.
He continued. "I don't want to bother solving it…still won't change that I missed you…I…really missed you"
She shook her head, but still smiled. "You must've hit your head when you fell…"
He shrugged. "Your fault I slipped" and then started walking.
"It wasn't!"
-
A/N: I am tired, I want to go to bed, if you have any questions – then ask. By the way, alerts: 105!!
I am so happy that I have so many alerts! Hurraaaaay!!
Another thing. Who is Kozuki? If you know who it is, then I can tell you there is a legendary person called --- Kozuki. Heh.
All rights to kishi!