Chapter 9: Just for Now

A brief hue of white glistened amongst the unilluminated sea of nothingness. Her left wrist was throbbing painfully, and the aching had woken her up from her brief, restless sleep. Miyako brushed the specks of dirt from her weary eyes with her good arm and sat up groggily, brushing the tangled mess of hair from her face.

"Sakura-chan," whispered Miyako as she rubbed her eyes. "Sakura-chan, I'll take over."

The pink-haired kunoichi turned around, and she blinked the weariness from her dull, emerald eyes. Miyako flinched as she stood up, and she clutched her wrist instinctively. There was a flash of worry underneath those jade-green eyes.

"Is it getting worse?" she asked, taking the injured wrist into her gentle hands.

"Sasuke splinted it one more time," replied Miyako as she moved her wrist slowly, observing the damage. "It should be fine—it's tight enough, but handling a weapon might be going out of bounds. You think they'll fix it at the tower?"

Sakura nodded. The fatigue was beginning to seep back into the sea of green. It had been merely a handful of hours since their previous foe had departed, but the time in between felt as if it had crawled past. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep and the insane abundance of fright and angst that made it seem as if it had been days since the second round first started, not hours.

Their encounter with Orochimaru had left team seven with four injured Genin, two of them severely wounded, in addition to crushed confidence. There were still several hours left before the round concluded, but for now, there was nothing that could be done. Two of their most vital members were unconscious, and the other two had seen better days.

The dark-haired kunoichi tensed, and her chocolate orbs widened in alert as she sensed presences approaching their hideout. Sakura had shut her exhausted eyes for merely seconds before Miyako gently shook her shoulders.

"Get ready," she muttered, unsheathing a single kunai with her right hand and slinging the remaining one and its sheath over her dust-covered shoulder. "The Sound are here."

***

"Lee-san!"

Sakura's olive eyes were wide with panic as she stared fixedly at the thick-browed Genin before her. The taijutsu prodigy had miraculously appeared alongside them, and though Lee had inflicted some damage to their opponents, even advanced taijutsu was no match for their techniques.

The Sound shinobi with the heavily bandaged face—the female had called him Dosu—merely chuckled as he watched Lee collapse. A puddle of blood began to form around the dark-haired Genin's head, and the incarnadine liquid seemed to flow from within his ear.

The bandage around Miyako's left wrist had loosened significantly as a result of her movements. There was a terrible, gnawing pain that was beginning to grow, and the wound was heavily hindering her agility as well as her offensive abilities. Amber eyes blinked anxiously as she carefully analyzed the situation, desperately trying to prevent the trepidation from resurfacing beneath.

Sakura was in no condition to fight, or move, in that matter. The Sound kunoichi had immobilized Sakura by seizing a handful of her pink hair, and both Dosu and Zaku had taken a good amount of chakra from Lee. Due to the dreadfully high frequency of the sound waves Dosu had inflicted Lee with, the Leaf shinobi wasn't going to be up for a while. In addition, with the burden of fatigue and a useless arm, fighting three on one would be an unfeasible task. She grimaced at the unfavorable odds, but there was nothing else that could be done. Her right hand tightened its grip around a single kodachi, and she felt a somewhat welcoming and warm surge of chakra surge through her calves as she focused her chakra, disappearing from her position in an instant.

"Kin, get out of the way!" Dosu yelled towards the black-haired Sound kunoichi just before Zaku slid in front of Miyako in an effort to redirect her path.

"Tch, you're annoying," the short, Sound nin sneered as he removed the gloves covering the holes in his hands.

Having already seen his ability against Lee, the young Tsubaki coerced another handful of her remaining chakra to her legs, changing pathways the instant she noticed Zaku. She saw his beady eyes widen as he realized the air pressure coming from the gaping holes in his hands had struck nothing.

Miyako slashed her blade at his head, her amber eyes flashing with concentration, but he had sensed her a split second earlier. Zaku ducked immediately, but his reactions had still been too slow—he felt a foot collide against the bottom of his chin, knocking him several feet backwards.

She flipped the handle of her kodachi and pointed it dangerously at her opponent's throat. Miyako was clearly out of breath—her left wrist was beginning to ache even more, and her legs were trembling from pushing too much chakra to them in an effort to increase her movements. Zaku took one look at her shaking legs and smirked as he wiped the thick trickle of blood seeping from his lips.

"You're fast, I'll give you that," he admitted, his black eyes gleaming with amusement as he raised a skeptical eyebrow, "but how long can you maintain that sort of speed? Looks like you've reached your limit."

Before she could answer, an ear-splitting ring struck the air, and the high-pitched frequency instantly blurred her vision. Her head throbbed terribly, and she struggled to maintain her already disappearing consciousness. A wave of black flashed amidst her unclear vision, and she scarcely had time to register Zaku's movements until she felt him aim a swift punch to her stomach.

Zaku thrust a consecutive kick at her chin; her vision had not cleared despite the fact that Dosu had ceased using his screeching abilities now that the Sound once again had the upper hand, her wrist had doubled in pain, her legs were still unstable from her previous attack, and now blood was beginning to trickle from underneath her mask as well as from her left ear.

She grimaced. On the bright side, Sakura had managed to free herself by cutting off a good majority of her hair, leaving the Sound kunoichi with a handful of pink hair in her grip and stupidly blank expression on her face.

"Sasuke!"

Sakura's cry brought Miyako back to reality and her head snapped up immediately. Her vision was beginning to clear, and for one fleeting moment, she thought it was over—that the Sound had succeeded in killing the Uchiha prodigy and that the rest of them were soon to follow.

The instant she saw the Uchiha standing, her hazel eyes widened with terror, incredulity and at the same time, relief, though the last sensation vanished when she noticed the pool of black markings bleeding from the upper corner of his neck. Zaku let out an angry snarl as he lunged at Sasuke, his weapons drawn, but he was sent flying backwards before Miyako had time to blink.

"S-Sasuke…?"

She almost couldn't recognize her own voice among the shakiness. Sasuke turned, though slightly, but it was enough for her to see those strikingly pellucid scarlet eyes. They narrowed dangerously the moment he recognized her.

"Miyako," he said quietly in a voice that sent shivers past her aching spine. "Who did that to Sakura… and to you?"

She was struggling to stand, but her legs insisted on being uncooperative. Sasuke's crimson eyes flickered from the fresh trickle of blood flowing from the corners of her mask to her violently trembling legs, but he remained silent, waiting for an answer.

"Sasuke, you—"

"I said," Sasuke interrupted harshly, curling his lips into a deep frown. "Who did this to you and Sakura?"

The ink-like markings had crawled up to cover the entire left side of his face. The unrecognizable appearance and coldness in his voice, in addition to the overflowing amount of chakra that was seeping from him, informed all the shinobi there that this was not Uchiha Sasuke. At least, everyone excluding Zaku.

"I did," Zaku shouted, standing up only seconds after being struck by Sasuke despite the incredible impact of the blow. His lips curled into a frenzied smirk as he directed his arms outwards so that one faced Miyako and the other faced Sakura and Naruto. "What are you going to do about it, eh, Uchiha?"

Miyako cursed—unless they were given another handful of minutes to rest, her legs were not going to budge. With another smirk, Zaku released the air pressure from his hands, and the dark-haired kunoichi flinched as she braced herself, but nothing but a whiff of a breeze came her way.

She felt the arm that had been lightly wrapped around her waist release her, along with her two other teammates. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and smirked—there was a crazed sense of euphoria in his eyes that made both of team seven's kunoichi shiver unconsciously.

"Was that it?" he mocked.

Zaku's expression clearly revealed the fact that he, like the other shinobi around him, was trying to register how Sasuke had just made the impossible possible.

"Sasuke, your wounds," Sakura called out hesitantly.

"It's nothing," he answered, his smirk widening as he watched Zaku gape stupidly at him. "I feel better, no—more than better. There's like this surge of… incredible strength inside me… I feel like I can do anything." He addressed Zaku again. "If you're not coming to me, then I'll go to you."

And with another blink of an eye, Sasuke had reappeared from thin air directly behind Zaku, who obviously could not register the impeccable speed of the Uchiha genius's movements. Sasuke seized both his arms, causing the Sound nin yell out in surprise, and planted a foot against his back. The bizarre frenzy in his eyes had not yet diminished.

"Well," he began quietly, his voice velvet smooth, "since you're so proud of your arms…"

Sakura let out a small cry of terror as the painful cracking sound echoed in the air, followed by a piercing scream. Meanwhile, Miyako had taken her wide eyes off of the sight of Sasuke holding Zaku's horribly disfigured arm and focused her attention on her legs, knowing that movement would be more than necessary in the next several seconds.

"Now for the other one," Sasuke sneered, amusement shining in his Sharingan eyes.

"Sasuke, that's enough," Miyako said shakily. She was leaning heavily against a tree trunk as she attempted to steady her trembling legs.

Zaku had taken advantage of the fact that Sasuke's grip had loosened by yanking his arms forcefully away from the Uchiha. He backed away several feet, his face white with pain as he snarled at his opponent through clenched teeth.

Sasuke's cold eyes flickered over to her, and the smirk was replaced by a scowl. "Don't interfere."

Another blink, and he had vanished, undoubtedly chasing Zaku once more. Miyako's mind couldn't register another thought, and without hesitation, she lunged forwards, miraculously pinpointing Sasuke's path. She threw her whole weight against her teammate, knocking him sideways.

Miyako's breathing was nothing short of ragged, and she found herself sprawled on top of him, her hands searching for his face. The sea of red had been replaced by a pool of obsidian, and she found relief washing over her as she noticed both the gradual disappearance of the obsidian markings along his throat and the surprised expression.

"Stop it, Sasuke," she said. Her voice was still quivering from the pain that was beginning to flood in every muscle of her body.

"What are you doing?" he said impatiently, his ebony eyes flickering to Zaku.

She drew his face closer to hers, her eyes pleading for him to cease asking questions. Up close, his expressions seemed even more fatigued than normal, and now that the ominous markings were close to vanishing completely, Miyako assumed that the surge of strength he had felt seconds before had left him.

"It's fine, everything's fine," she whispered, parting the black strands of hair from his forehead, which was covered in cold sweat. Her fingers intertwined with his, and she gripped his hand so firmly that Sasuke looked up at her, his expression littered with worry.

"All right," he answered softly, bringing a soothing hand up to her masked face. "If you want me to."

His eyes were aching with exhaustion. Moments earlier, when he had felt that outpour of power running through his veins, it felt as if he could've taken on anything, from the Sound nin to the Hokage. But now that it had receded, the weariness had returned—he had never wanted to rest so much in his entire lifetime. Miyako's voice was hardly audible to him as he pondered over the reason behind his sudden strength, but Sasuke shook his head and brought himself back to reality.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Dosu said, causing the prodigy to lift his head. Even though his face was heavily bandaged, the fear still shone through the Sound shinobi's beady eyes. "We've seen your capabilities. For now, we will retreat."

Miyako said nothing, her fatigued hazel eyes watching Dosu's movements with half the alertness they usually contained as the Sound nin left what looked like a scroll on the surface of the dusty forest ground.

"Next time we meet again, however," began Dosu, meeting her eyes. "We are enemies."

A weary smirk curled beneath her mask as she scoffed. "As if we weren't enemies to begin with."

Dosu shouldered his unconscious teammates, and with another curt nod to Miyako, vanished from sight. Reassurance flooded the three conscious members of team seven as each one of them prayed that the worst was over.

***

Though the remainder of their trip to the tower still consisted of resilient battles, none of them came nearly as close as the near death experience team seven ran into with one of the three legendary Sanin, as they soon came to learn.

Team Kakashi proved to be successful in the second round of the increasingly impossible Chuunin exam. As a small reward, those who passed were given two hours to recuperate before hearing the next set of instructions regarding the third and final round from the Hokage.

The healers stationed at the tower had mended Miyako and Sakura's injuries in a matter of seconds. On the other hand, both Sasuke and Naruto, who had received direct wounds from Orochimaru, had been taken away by Kakashi, who insisted on treating them personally.

It was as if nothing had happened to Miyako's wrist at all, and her heart felt considerably lighter as she strolled down the hallway, motioning her wrist in circles in order to ensure that there were no further injuries. She paused at the door located at the very end of the hallway momentarily before twisting the knob open and entering the room.

Sasuke turned his head sharply the instant her heard the door creak open, but his narrowed, ebony eyes relaxed as he recognized the visitor. Miyako shut the door behind her slowly, and her amber eyes flickered over to her blonde teammate, who was sleeping soundly in a mattress located in the opposite corner of the room. She crossed the small room quickly to the bedside of the Uchiha, who immediately gripped her shoulders the second she sat down on the mattress alongside him.

"Sasuke, what—" she began curiously, her chocolate orbs widening in question.

His hands sought her face in the dimly lit room, and through his frantic movements, Miyako could feel his anxiety. Sasuke brought her face close to his, so close that her heart fluttered in surprise as she noticed the angst in his dark eyes.

"I thought I was going to lose you," he whispered, rushing his words. "After I heard you scream like that, I thought… I thought he had already—"

"Sasuke, everything's fine."

The familiarity of her words allowed Sasuke to realize that she had same the same sentence to him hours earlier.

"He only broke my wrist," Miyako continued quietly, trying not to wake Naruto up. She chuckled. "This isn't like you, Sasuke. What happened to the colossal ego?"

Miyako saw his shoulders unclench and relax, and he heaved a heavy sigh, bringing a hand up to his forehead and rubbing his temples in exhaustion.

"It must be the fatigue speaking," she reassured him. "Everyone's fine—"

Miyako ceased speaking the moment she felt his hand pass her cheek and begin to untie the knot behind her neck. The mask fell, and before she could say anything, Sasuke had pressed his lips against hers. Something surfaced inside her, but she managed to maintain all self-control as he leaned back, obsidian eyes blinking blankly as he registered the situation.

"You're right, I'm just tired, forget I just did that—"

But the miniscule distance between their faces caused the self-control to vanish and without another moment's contemplation, she returned the kiss. For a moment, Sasuke did nothing but stare at her unresponsively, which caused her to realize that it was undoubtedly the first time she had taken the initiative and gone out of her way to kiss him. The only reaction that occurred from either of them was the deepening of the color of her cheeks.

Miyako opened her mouth, intending to begin an awkward conversation with him, but Sasuke realized that, at the moment, he didn't quite wish to hear words. His warm lips met hers a third time, and the two of them suddenly lost all reason and all thought.

Sasuke's hands buried themselves in her tangled hair, closing his eyes instinctively as he felt her hesitant arms wrap around his neck. The warmth, reassurance and pleasure within him was simply inordinate and those emotions increased as he felt the intrinsic desire to deepen the kiss, and he dared himself to allow his tongue to brush against her lower lip, causing her to shudder.

The first few times he had kissed her, he had been indicating his role and strength, but in this minute alone, Sasuke felt as if he was connoting how grateful he was that she was alive in addition to how much he had grown to value her presence—illustrations that were immeasurable, as anyone could tell from merely glancing at the newly attached and inexperienced couple.