Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters related to the manga. These belong to the wonderful Masashi Kishimoto-sensei! If I owned it, Kakashi-sensei could open up a portal to this dimension so all the characters could be real! SQEEEL!
Anyway enjoy Chapter 7 mina-san! *Quick thanks to my regular reviewers (you know who you are) for keeping me motivated. :D*
"This is it," Sakura thought. "This is how l die." Sakura was starring into the round azul eyes of her best friend, wide like discs from what Sakura could only guess was confusion.
"Hi Ino..." she said sheepishly. Ino raised an eyebrow at her sceptically and peered past her into the apartment, obviously smelling a rat.
"Good morning Sakura," she said still spying the apartment. She went to walk inside but Sakura moved to the side slightly, blocking her entrance. Ino frowned at her and Sakura smiled again sheepishly. She was very aware those mere inches to her right Sasuke was hiding behind the door, pressed against the wall, probably barely breathing as to not give himself away.
"What you doing here Ino?" Sakura asked through slightly gritted teeth though still managing to sound pleasant. Ino tried to wedge her foot further into the apartment but Sakura was managing to subtly use her chakra infused strength to keep her heeled foot at bay. Sakura's shoulders were beginning to ache with how stiff she was, all her muscles contracted uncomfortably from the tension. The slightest wrong move would blow the entire operation, so to speak.
"It's your day off," Ino said plainly, more a statement than any thing. Still her meaning did not twig with Sakura and she looked at her friend confusedly. "We got to the tea shop of our Wednesdays off remember?" Ino said drawing out the last word for emphasis. She thought Sakura was being incredibly slow, so unlike her that it made a little red flag go up in the back of Ino's mind. Sakura suddenly realised that Ino was right, she pretty much always came by this time on a Wednesday. Sasuke's little trick and her sleeping for twenty four hours had totally thrown her bodily clock. She smiled weakly and reached her hand round the back of her head; she rested it on the back of her neck in the action Kakashi or Naruto sometimes did when they were apologising for something.
"You're right, I'm sorry I forgot," Sakura said as she pushed the door in slightly, forcing Ino's foot back a little.
"I came by yesterday too but there was no answer," Ino said with a slight accusation in her voice.
"Oh sorry...again," she laughed trying to lighten the mood. "I was sleeping... you know, long shift and everything," Sakura rambled. All the while, using the door as a shield, Sakura waved her fingers hidden behind the door at Sasuke. He looked at her gesturing with a confused expression.
"What the hell was wrong with her fingers?!" Sasuke thought confusedly. He reached out and assuming she was shaking out of nervousness hegrasped her fingers in his so that her vibrating would not give them away. The moment his fingers caught hers Sakura gasped audibly and stifled a startled scream. There was a slight pause where they all stood stock still, Ino starring at Sakura with a bewildered expression and Sakura trying to put on a shaky smile. She would never have made it as an actress. Sakura decided diversion was the best tactic, she laughed a girly tinkling giggle,
"That's a nice outfit Ino," Sakura commented, making her voice lofty and girly. Ino smiled
instantly and looked down at her skirt and tank top admiringly. Sakura using the second Ino was appraising herself to snap her head to look round the door. His expression was blank but his eyes were wide and his whole body was stiff as a board. Sakura nodded her head to the side with an angry look, the interval given by Ino admiring herself was only seconds long on a particularly self-absorbed day. He nodded quickly and moved from behind the door in a flash.
Ino looked up from herself and despite her questions about her friend's strange behaviour, smiled brightly. "So, to the tea house then?"
"Yeah about that...." Sakura started as she moved to leave her apartment and shut the door
behind her. She felt Sasuke brush past her and she smiled, knowing that they were in the clear now. Sakura was just about to close the door completely when there was a colossal crash from inside the apartment. Sakura whirled around too look back into her apartment, no one visible so far. She couldn't turn back to Ino, she was still grasping at straws trying to find an explanation for the uproar inside. She was corrected, this was when she was going to die. Ino would have heard that commotion and would go barging into the apartment like the Spanish Inquisition. Wild horses wouldn't be able to stop her even if they wanted to. Sakura turned around with a defeated expression, expecting Ino to blaze straight past her momentarily. However Ino's expression was not what she had been expecting, instead of a disapproving frown and her arms folded across her chest, Ino's hands were clasped together and she had a smile so wide and sparkling eyes that she looked like a child on Christmas morning. Sakura smiled slightly, confused as to how she was going to react and braced herself.
"You have a man in there!" she said in an adolescent squeal unfitting a woman who was almost twenty years old. Sakura swore to Kami that she actually sweat-dropped at that moment, no joke. She laughed with trepidation and smiled guiltily. It wasn't exactly a lie.
"Sure, why not," she thought to herself. "That'll do." Sakura nodded and tried to look like she was embarrassed at being caught out. Ino smiled knowingly and winked at her before trying to peer into the apartment again. Sakura was one step ahead of her and stepped in her view path once again. Ino sighed in defeat and shrugged.
"Fine if you won't let me meet him," she said with mock disappointment. "It's probably a good thing, once look at me and he'd come to his senses" she said looking at Sakura with disgust, reaching forward to pull at her baggy sweatpants. "Seriously Sakura have I taught you nothing!" she exclaimed exasperated. Sakura laughed with relief and reached forward to pull her friend into a hug. Ino hugged back and tried to pull her hair out of its long ponytail at the same time. Sakura pushed her away playfully, relief washing over her now the danger of being discovered was past. Ino stuck her tongue out at Sakura and ambled off down the corridor, maybe to find Hinata and drag her to the tea house instead. Sakura smiled as her friend flounced down the corridor with her usual sway, she shook her head slightly and closed her door quickly. She thought about locking the door again, there had to be a good reason why Sasuke sealed them in there. Sasuke! Sakura was suddenly pulled from her Ino induced daze and turned around sharply and darted through to her bedroom where his yell had roughly sounded from. The room was empty and she felt a small prickle of panic run down her spine, nothing in the room seemed disturbed or indicated a struggle so she ruled out abduction. Suddenly though her eye caught something shiny, a piece of glass glinting on the floor. She looked around to see that the mirror hanging on the bedroom wall was shattered, all the pieces still stuck to the mirror unnaturally.
"Sasuke?" she called out questioningly, hiding the fear in her voice remarkably well.
"In the bathroom Sakura," his voice came from behind her. She turned around to see light spilling out of the open bathroom door across the corridor. Sakura sighed in relief and headed to the bathroom.
"You almost blew your mysterious little secret," Sakura called to him with an edge of irritation as she headed down the corridor, "Ino nearly bust down my door seeking you out..." she said with a hint of a smile in her voice. She turned into the bathroom to see both of Sasuke's palms shoved under running water; even blurred by the water she could see the skin was red and angry looking. The moment she saw his injury she was pulled into doctor mode instantaneously. She rushed over to the sink and pulled his hands out to look at them properly, the skin was burned horrendously. She pushed them under the water again and looked up at him. He however was starring down at his hands with a slight grimace, his expression perplexed and annoyed at the same time.
"What happened?" Sakura asked, her voice taking a tender tone unexpectedly. Sasuke shrugged slightly,
"Can't know for certain, I have a pretty good hunch though," he said cryptically. Sakura nodded, too preoccupied with his burns to be annoyed with the incomplete answer. She stopped the water and handed him a fluffy towel from the sideboard. He pressed it to his palms to soak up the blood now seeping through the blistered skin.
"Tell me about it as I heal them," Sakura said as she turned to leave. Sasuke, lost in his thoughts, did not follow her instantly and Sakura had to pull on his arm for him to snap out of it. He turned to look at her finally and her expression almost made him laugh. Her eyes were wide and her brow was furrowed with concern. Sasuke smiled slightly to reassure her but Sakura could tell it was forced; she resigned to dragging the truth out of him, finally! She pulled him gently and they walked through to the living room where they sat down on the couch. Sakura took the towel from in between Sasuke's hands and then placed it on top of her lap, then his hands on top of this. They weren't bleeding badly but he had to be in excruciating pain, he didn't show it at all. Sakura looked up at him again, but he was, again, not looking back. His thoughts were occupied it seemed. Sakura sighed at the idea of how laborious this would be, dragging information out of him. Stupid Ino for interrupting!
"Here's a deal. I'll heal your hands for you and you tell me the truth like you promised," Sakura proposed.
"That's blackmail," he said incredulously but with no hint of the smile Sakura had wanted out of him, he looked up at her instead with accusatory eyes and a hard frown. Sakura smiled devilishly and drew chakra to her hands, covering them with the familiar emerald hue. "I thought medics were supposed to be impartial to whom they heal," Sasuke said, Sakura's smile managing to relax him. He found his smile came more naturally though he still didn't feel comfortable with it, he hadn't truly smiled in years.
"Yes but ANBU are resourceful and cunning, using whatever is to their advantage," Sakura reasoned with coy smile, "So I'm an appropriate mix of the two" she said finally as she hushed in order to concentrate and begin the work on his hands. She pushed her chakra into his skin and assessed the damage; there wasn't any monumental damage, nothing affected his muscles thankfully but the reason behind the injury vexed Sakura. He hadn't offered an explanation for the burns and she saw no fire around him anywhere, but she was used to deducing the origin of injuries. She looked up at Sasuke who starred back at her passively. Even when void of emotion, Sasuke's eyes were always dazzling. The deepest of blues or the lightest of ebony, they were indecipherable, reflective of their owner. Sakura shook her head slightly, forcing herself to concentrate again. Sakura slipped her chakra into his chakra highway that ran down his fingers with expert ease. However to her great surprise she met some resistance at his wrists. There seemed to be some great block in his highway, something she had never heard of before. She tried to penetrate the block but it did not respond to her gentleness. Something a little stronger was needed obviously.
"This might be slightly uncomfortable for you," Sakura warned him. He nodded, seeming unscathed by her warning. Sakura took a steadying breath and with a grunt pushed her chakra against the block. She felt the barrier resists her again, so she pushed harder. The blockage was something she had never even heard of before, so different to any chakra blocking agent or jutsu she'd ever studied. She pushed harder, grinding her teeth with the effort and the pressure building in the highway. This seemed to be getting her nowhere so she pulled back and sighed heavily.
"You seem to have a blockage of chakra in the point in your wrist where the highways break off down your fingers," Sakura explained. Sasuke merely employed his usual response to anything, a hnnnn and said nothing else. He seemed not at all surprised or concerned by this, even though his hand could die from lack of chakra access. Deciding this was something she couldn't leave Sakura pulled her chakra back as if to give it a running start. She morphed the tips of her chakra "strings" flowing into his body as it were, into needle tips. She peeked an eye open slightly and looked up at him.
"Brace yourself," she said. He nodded sharply and though she wasn't certain it looked like he was gritting his teeth. Sakura took a deep breath and closed her eyes to picture the highways better. She shot the chakra needles deep into the barrier and they broke through instantly, shattering the barrier behind them. Sasuke gasped out a strangled sound of pain and he breathed heavily through gritted teeth. Sakura grimaced slightly and so she pulled her chakra back slowly and as gently as she could. "Sorry," she said gently as she turned his hands over to begin re-crafting his skin. He hnned again, this time the tiniest sound of pain leaked through.
"Do you have any idea how you managed this?" she asked looking up from her work momentarily. Sasuke closed his eye and sighed heavily.
"I didn't want to get you involved in this Sakura. This was my last resort," he said somberly. Sakura frowned slightly but said nothing, relieved to finally have him talking. "It all started when...."
Oh aren't I horrible! Hehe. Please review lots and then I might just let the next chapter out that much quicker.
