Howling Love :.
Chapter Nine xx Ambush
It was Sasuke who noticed them first.
He had kept glancing back with a furtive scowl before quickening his pace every few minutes. Pretty soon he'd filled her in on his odd behavior, and it had all fit quite easily into place. Sakura hadn't at all liked what he'd told her.
They were being followed.
The full moon seemed particularly ominous at that point as it loomed high above the treetops. It's milky-white glow bled through the finger-like branches to cast leaping and flitting shadows that danced along the many tree trunks and roots. The two companion's speed had done anything but slow within the last few hours, the the night had proven to be of no great obstacle due to their moonlit path. They kept up their pace relentlessly, pushing always furthur through the trees; Sakura just ahead jumping from branch to branch, and Sasuke, sprinting tirelessly through the trees. Though they had earlier made plans to stop and make camp, they discarded the idea and chose to continue onward for one sole reason.
"Sakura."
The kunoichi glanced down towards the forest floor when he heard his low hiss, her emerald eyes watching him closely as he took a glance behind them before returning his gaze up towards her in the treetops.
"There's a clearing up ahead -- we could ambush them there." His onyx eyes flicked forward, narrowing in what she assumed to be a few mental calculations.
"How big?"
"Big, no trees, lot's of grass... There's a water source as well." His smug expression told her that the water source had finalized his plan, and she distantly wondered why, but didn't ask about it.
"How do you know all of this?" He glanced sideways at her and paused before he replied.
"Hn."
"Compelling."
He shrugged mildly.
The trees were quickly beginning to thin out, and the pinkette quickened her pace in anticipation. The very feeling in the air seemed to shift as she broke through the branches into the open air to leap easily onto the ground, all of her muscles and tendons rippling with excitement for the coming battle.
And the finally the compact undergrowth gave way before her and the kunoichi burst forth into a thick blanket of weaving grass. She glanced around her quizzically, finding the light pouring forth from the moon to be rather helpful in her scrutinizing.
Her darting emeralds picked on all of the main features pretty easily. Off to the side was a large stream that tumbled off a sloping, grassy hill that rose up and off into the trees from opposite them. The grass covering the large expanse of meadow was thick and full of different tints of yellow and green that seemed to glint in the sparkling moonlight. Sakura, however, didn't have much time for sightseeing, for the raven-haired Uchiha appeared quickly from between a few trees, his approach completely silent.
He stopped when he was even with her, his right hand held apprehensively on the hilt of his katana, ready to draw at a moments notice. His onyx hues flickered back and forth as they surveyed and analyzed the landscape set before them, narrowing slightly before widening again, flicking between a strange mix of confidence and annoyance. Sakura buried a hand in her weapons pouch and slipped a few shuriken into the hidden pocket inside her gloves, her expression blank.
"Got a plan, Uchiha?" she asked him solemnly, though she actually had a few of her own that she would be more than willing to explain if he didn't.
He turned to her suddenly, his eyes pouring into her own with a very intiminating sort of glint. She felt her whole body willing itself to take a step back, but she ignored it and stared right back, eyebrow raised.
"You've got many of your Hokage's abilities, correct?" He seemed to be examining her, and she nodded hesitantly after he spoke. He continued brusquely:
"I need this clearing to be completely destroyed. Rubble everywhere; create some variety of levels to fight on." He took one last glance at the meadow before nodding again, his expression now expectant.
"Fine, though you might want to take a step back." Sakura made a looking shooing motion as he backed away into the shadow of the forest.
She took a deep breath and concentrated intensely on her right hand. At first, all she felt was a slight tingling. Then that familiar, startling-blue haze charged up around the surface of her glove, doubling in size every second until it hissed and crackled along her skin.
The kunoichi reared back her fist slowly, her expression stony and serious, then slammed it down with a shattering force into the ground.
Almost like water the rock around her rippled and buckled outwards before exploded around her hand, cracking and shattering like glass as it shook and crumbled. The noise was deafening, and the pinkette took a few steps back to admire her work, joining her companion in the shadows. Just like he'd asked, the entire place was now a complete chaos of dust and rubble.
"Satisfactory?" she asked smugly, lips curled into a girlish little grin.
"Quite."
Sasuke suddenly turned towards the trees behind him, eyes narrowed. "They're almost here..." he said quietly, more to himself than to Sakura. "Mask your chakra."
In a second his katana was slashing through the air as he bounded easily up through the pile of giant boulders and dust, his movements graceful and agile; not to mention completely silent. She quickly followed him, though her movements were more clumsy as she scrambled up through the boulders, while simultaneously focusing on shielding her pulsing chakra.
He stopped in the shadow of a particularly large chunk of land, crouched down so that he was hidden from view to their followers. Sakura ducked down behind him, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up anxiously as she peered out from the spot into the darkness of the trees. Now all they had to do was wait.
They moved like shadows into the moonlight from within the thick barricade of trees. The slinked out from the darkness before assuming a battle formation just beyond the undergrowth, their hidden faces scouring the darkness without much success.
Five men, one woman. Sakura watched grimly as the woman strutted out in front of the men, her twisting braid suddenly swinging out into view. It was a startling blonde; and as her gaze swept across the rubble her eyes gleamed a nightmarish yellow.
Yui...!! She hasped audibly, her hands flying up to her mouth in surprise.
Sasuke glanced up at her suddenly, his eyebrow raised at her bewildered expression. She waved him off with a hand, eyes still transfixed on the pursuers.
The raven tapped her softly, attracting her attention. In his hand was a thin, almost invisible line that stretched in the direction of the six shinobi. Her expression a-lit with understanding as she nodded. He nodded slowly, motioned for her to take a step back, then turned toward their opponents once more. He placed the string in his mouth and bit down to free his hands, then proceeded to fire off in a series of hand seals.
"Soukou Hinote no Jutsu," he muttered. The line in his hand instantly turned a scorching red as the heat seared down its length and out of view between the rocks.
Flames suddenly shot into the air in a blinding circle around the enemy shinobi, followed by a few wounded yelps and a very loud and female hiss.
Then suddenly the Uchiha was leaping out from their hiding spot, katana flashing in the moonlight as he whirled it in front of him, his speed almost undetectable as he landed easily ontop another large boulder a few yards off, his expression cool.
"Raikou Hisaki no jutsu!" His distinctive shout echoed out through the clearing as the Haruno watched the flames dancing about around the enemies turn a startling blue. They began to make a loud static noise, and electizity began to zigzag out from it in various directions into the ground.
Several shapes shot out from the mess, landing easily just beyond the flying static. Two of them looked a bit singed while the other growled something lowly at them.
Their comrades did not fair so easily. Sakura caught movement to her left and jolted to attention, but calmed as she realized it was her raven. His expression looked suddenly pained, and he turned away from the lightning suddenly, fixing his gaze somewhere else. Her expression turned to one of confusion as she looked back to the flickering blue flames.
And then the screams. From within the dancing flames of lightning the two shinobi who had been unable to escape were screaming in agony. Sakura's heart fluttered as she took an involuntary step back, fear bubbling up into her throat. Her hands flew up to her chest as she held them their, quivering in shock. They were being tortured, they were dying a cruel and unusual death, they were slowly being burned alive....
How could he do that to them? Why not just end it quickly, humanely, civilly? Her expression hardened suddenly.
His expression of pain now made sense.... Her thoughts were brought to an abrupt standstill as she heard that familiar, feminine purring out over the clearing.
"Uchiha Sasuke, I presume?" Sakura looked back down to Yui as she spoke, for she had been one of the three survivors.
When he gave no hint of replying, she went on: "And Haruno Sakura is with you as well, correct? How both of you escaped Katsuo-sama's prison is beyond me, but I have every intention of bringing you both back!" Her voice sounded half-crazed as it shrieked out over the meadow. The pinkette grit her teeth, searching for an open opportunity to make her attack.
The four remaining enemies were fanned out in a line, with Yui and one of the other men standing a little in front of the other two, showing off their higher ranks.
Sasuke looked down on the four of them during her little proposal without changing his cold expression in the slightest.
"Come and get me, then," he said coolly, watching with grinning eyes as suddenly the blonde sprang up and darted up towards him, eyes wild with fury. Sakura charged at the exact same moment from her hiding spot and slammed her fist into Yui's side, sending the woman flying backwards to sprawl limply on a nearby rock. She looked rather dazed as she fell to her knees on the opposite side of the clearing, though she had managed to stay conscious, which was a feat in itself.
She grinned smugly as Sasuke gave her an annoyed grimace. "First to two wins?" she asked him cutely. He smirked.
"You're on."
Sasuke-kun and Sakura have decided to turn beating their enemies to a pulp into a game. :D Lovely.
So anyway, I apologize for the short chapter, I was rather uninspired while writing it. Next chapter is going to be rather epic, and I thought that I should deserve it own chapter, thus why I ended this one so abruptly. Chapter 10 will be full of battle scenes, and perhaps a twist at the end. Prepare yourselves. :D Har har.
So earlier someone asked how long this fic is going to be. I honestly don't know. I have a couple more larger ideas and plenty of fluff that I want to sprinkle in, but after that I plan to have a rather happy ending, just as you guys asked for, and then an end. Depending on demand I may or may not have a sequel. From there I plan to create a AU SasuSaku fic and some nice oneshots. Who knows, it all depends. :D
For those of you who seemed to be a bit concerned over the fact that Sasuke got poofed into human form so quickly, don't get too worried! That whole concept will definitely continue to play a major role in the fic. In due time.
Any of you guys listened to Trading Yesterday? Dude, I just realized that the song "Love Song Requiem" is talking about me! Well, not really, but someone who has the same name. :] They're a pretty awesome band, and I highly recommend listening to a few songs. If you decide you like them or want something to do, look up "Shattered SasuSaku" on youtube and a really nice AMV comes up by kheartsterra, so be sure to watch that. It's one of my favorites.
Please REVIEW and thanks for reading! :D The more reviews I get the faster I'll update!
-- xxIndigo