Stand By Me
Chapter 6 - Only if for a Night
'and the only solution was to stand and fight, and my body was loose and I was set alight, but she came over me like some holy rite, and although I was burning - you're the only light - only if for a night.'
Sakura leapt into the tree above them first and Naruto followed. They needed to create distance and quick. There were at least 5 men pursuing them, and while at the moment both Naruto and Sakura could fight. They were outnumbered and tired, especially Sakura - her soldier pill could crash within - if she kept running at this pace - 2 hours. If she pushed herself in a fight - she was looking at about 30 - 40 minutes at most. Sakura could feel Naruto's eyes on her and she wished he would just concentrate on escaping. His attention was clearly divided, and the moment his eyes moved to her figure again, he was tackled to the ground by a large figure dressed in black. Sakura grabbed onto the next branch with her hands and dropped herself to the ground where Naruto and the Shadow's kunai slashed together in a display of sparks. They jumped back and began to circle each other. When Naruto was on the far end of the circle, the Shadow turned on Sakura - who was ready, she dodged his kunai and swung her fist at his head, the Shadow ducked down and swung a kick at Sakura's ankles. Sakura went crashing back, slamming into the forest floor.
Naruto was there in that second. ''Rasengan!'' it hit right into the Shadow's back and sent him flying.
''Sakura-chan!'' Naruto helped her up.
''Where are the others? They were supposed to be here by now...''
Naruto frowned. ''You're right...lets move on before they decide to come anyway.''
''Naruto...'' Sakura whispered and Naruto turned to her, a few feet away, the Shadow was getting up and dusting himself off as if nothing happened.
''What...the...fuck...'' Naruto muttered, a scowl forming on his face.
The Shadow cocked his head from side to side statistically before he took slow steps to them.
Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm to keep him still. ''We need to escape. This fight is dragging out too long.'' she whispered almost inaudibly. Naruto knew she was right, but for some reason he felt like he had to take this guy down.
''You go, Sakura-chan. I'll meet up with you.''
''What- No!''
''He's seen my face, Sakura-chan.''
That shut her up. There was no getting out of this one. They either had to kill this guy or he would kill them, and the latter wasn't even an option.
''We'll take him out together.'' she told him softly.
Naruto gave a slow nod. Sakura jumped up into a tree and disappeared into the shadows. Naruto created a clone and prepared the next Rasengan. The Shadow stopped mockingly, a deep laugh vibrated from the mask and he lifted his arms as if to say 'what? The same move again?'
Naruto ran at him with narrowed eyes. The Shadow shifted to the side at the last minute and Naruto ran past him and disappeared in a puff of smoke just as two clones grabbed the Shadow's arms from both side and Naruto appeared from the top - his Rasengan smashing into the Shadow's chest.
Naruto watched as blood spattered from the Shadow's chest while he seemed unaffected. Naruto felt the impact of the Shadow's foot to his chest and he was sent flying away as his clones were taken out simultaneously and the enemy jumped up into the tree line. Sakura came down in that instance, kick flying at his side. The Shadow caught it in time but Sakura felt the surely painful vibration of her strength as it went up his arm. She pulled back her arm and threw a punch at his jaw, but as she knew he would, her punch was caught. Sakura twisted her fist in his hand and caught his wrist before she turned them around -her on top and his back to the near-and-approaching ground- and this time her punch her its target and his mask shattered, blood spewing from his mouth in the process.
In the next second they hit the ground and the terrible crack of his spine filled the air. Naruto lifted Sakura off of the Shadow, who was already twisting unnaturally - trying to rectify the injury. ''Come on, Sakura-chan.'' Naruto said jumping back onto the high branch, with Sakura in tow. There was a terrible clicking as his spine clicked into place and then as Naruto and Sakura leapt to the next branch there was a slash as two kunai met behind them and them a terrible gurgling sound started. Naruto wanted to keep moving but Sakura slowly turned to see the scene behind them.
The Shadow they had just fought was on his knees, a Kunai was lodged into his windpipe and blood was gurgling from the hole.
Sakura turned her head and to her shock another Shadow had attacked him and that Shadow was staring at Naruto.
''We have to go, now.'' Sakura whispered as the sound of pursuers caught their ears.
Naruto nodded mutely.
''Go.'' the Shadow said and Naruto's eyes widened.
Sakura tugged at his sleeve. ''Come on.''
Naruto jumped onto the branch and Sakura followed.
They didn't stop, but a brief pause in the sound of pursuers gave them the edge they needed to make it out of the most of it.
Naruto stopped suddenly, a dark look on his face, and Sakura turned on him frantically.
''Sakura-chan, I need you to tell me what's going on, right now.''
''Naruto, we don't have time for this!'' she said through clenched teeth.
''Then tell me! Tell me that Shadow isn't who I think it is!'' he lashed out, stepping towards her.
Sakura grabbed the front of his jumpsuit jacket and shoved him against the tree behind him.
''Dammit Naruto! Can we discuss this when we're not running for our lives!'' she snapped, glaring up into his eyes.
''I just wish things would be like they were.'' he said slowly, his eyes hard.
Sakura returned the look. ''What? That I'd go back to being the naive girl? The girl who depended on you?'' Sakura shoved away from him.
''No...that's not what I meant, I just meant-'' Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. ''I want to trust you again, and I want you to trust me now,Sakura nodded. ''I want that too, but there are things that I don't even understand myself and for right now, we have to get to a safe place.''
Naruto wasn't satisfied but he nodded and allowed her to lead the way.
x-x-x-x-
Kankuro looked up at the dark sky. It wasn't about to rain, but winter had definitely come to Konoha. He was about 5 minutes away and he could make out the gate in the distance, but what bothered him was that their were no guards - Konoha or of Madara's, anywhere in sight. No patrols on this road either, now that he recalled.
Kankuro clutched at his scroll as he began to run towards the gates. A part of him knew that once the guards had left it would be over, but at the moment all he could think of was his friends, his sister - Konoha. Kankuro stepped through the gates. He knew what he would find, but it shocked him all the same.
It was impossible and yet, he was looking at it. Konoha was gone.
Kankuro looked around, burned bodies were everywhere. Lifeless.
He clenched his teeth and made his way through the village. He was sure Gaara would take in any survivors, but it was likely that there were none. For some reason it was always the same. They left no one alive. It was eerie, the silence around him, except for the howling of the ice cool wind that bit right down to his bones. He made it to the village center, or what would have been, if any of the buildings were still standing. He looked up at the Hokage Mountain. At least that was left, but it looked like there were no other survivors. His eyes fell down to where the Hokage Tower stood, now also in ruins, and then his eyes focussed on that familiar head of spikey blonde hair.
''Temari?'' he whispered and then he was running. ''Temari!''
Her head whipped up and her eyes were rimmed red and she was shaking uncontrollably. Kankuro lifted her up and inspected her for injuries. ''Are you ok? Are you hurt?'' he asked in a rush.
''I-Im fine,'' she said hoarsely before she hugged him, pressing her face into his chest.
''Are there any others alive?'' he asked and she shook her head.
''Lets go home.'' he said softly.
Temari looked up at him then. ''Yes, there is something Gaara should know.''
x-x-x-x-
Naruto and Sakura made it to a lodging town, like many others it had lost a lot and food was in short supply but Naruto as Nami, and Sakura found an inn where there was an available room.
''Im Nami and this is my sister-''
''Akaya.'' Sakura introduced herself with a smile.
The old lady nodded with a smile. Her small eyes stayed glued to Nami in a creepy sort of way.
''We're just passing through,'' Sakura said before she asked more questions.
The lady seemed to catch on to Sakura's apprehensiveness, because she nodded and took a key from the cabinet and wordlessly showed them to a room, but to Sakura's shock and outrage the lady didn't leave she closed the door and grabbed Nami's cheeks. ''You think I don't recognize you! You practically terrorized Jiraiya-chan in this Jutsu that summer you traveled through here!''
Naruto let out a laugh and transformed back into himself as the continued pulling on his cheeks.
''Kaede-obaa, nooo, stop it.'' he protested weakly at her antics.
''Naruto-chan! I haven't seen you in years!'' she scolded.
''Sorry, Kaede-obaa. Things have happened.'' Naruto said seriously.
''No doubt about, my boy.''
''Oh, Kaede-obaa, this is the girl I told you about Sa-''
''Akaya.'' Sakura cut him off, not bothering to hide her anger. Did he not know the seriousness of their situation!
Kaede smiled softly. ''I'll go fix you two a nice dinner.'' she said and then excused herself.
When the door closed with a click, an awkward silence followed. ''What the hell are you thinking, Naruto? She's practically a stranger! And now you're telling her you're alive! You might as well broadcast it to Madara on a loudspeaker!''
''Shes not a stranger! She's practically been treating Ero-Sennin like her own son during his travels! And I trust her!''
Sakura couldn't help it though. She'd come to realize that she trusted what Kalika told her more than anything. She did not trust that old lady. At all. Her gut feeling had never let her down.
''Well then go ahead. Trust her.'' Sakura told him and turned away. ''Your trust is gonna get us killed,'' she added in a whisper.
Naruto scowled at her back, having heard every word, but then he noticed the rapid breathing - movement in her hunched shoulders.
''Sakura-chan!'' he rushed to her side in an instant.
Sakura tried to move away from him but the sudden movement sent her crashing to the floor and dry-heaving horribly. Her body had obviously had enough.
Naruto was on his knees next to her.
''Youre at your limit, Sakura-chan, you need to rest, ok? Come on, let me help you up.'' he gently lifted her up with an arm around her now-skinny waist and helped her to one of the single beds.
Naruto lifted the blankets away and helped her in before covering her again.
''Rest now, Sakura-chan, I'll make sure nothing happens to us.''
The last thought Sakura had was a guilty feeling in her chest for always judging Naruto, despite that, he was always at her side when she needed him.
x-x-x-x-
All in all, Sakura slept for 3 days, while Naruto had asked Kaede-Obaa what she knew, since she owned an inn, a lot of news seemed to travel through here. He'd showed her their Team 7 picture, that he kept folded up in his backpack, but of course, Kaede had not seen Sasuke. It was like he just...disappeared off the face of the earth. It pissed Naruto off, that during his time in Konoha, Sasuke just would not disappear - always getting all the attention, everyone always talking about him, even when he left the village. Naruto sighed. Fucking Sasuke, Naruto couldn't wait to punch the guy's face in. That made the blonde smile.
He opened the door to their room and stopped dead. Sakura! Sakura wasn't in the bed. Naruto turned around and ran down the hall, of course in his female form - he knew how pissed off Sakura was about him being so careless. All the while he was looking around frantically.
''Nami-chan.''
Kaede waved him over.
''Kaede-obaa, no time, Sa-Akaya is-''
''Relax, boy. She left a little while ago. For a walk. Give the girl some time alone, eh?''
Naruto frowned, every instinct told him to go after her, but he knew Kaede was right. Sakura had been through alot. He remembered after Jiraiya died, he needed some time to himself too.
''You go on now, get some rest, Kami-sama only knows how you're up and about after watching over her for three days.'' Kaede waved him off and Naruto returned to their room. He needed to trust Sakura, if he could trust her, she would trust him. The moment Naruto's head hit the pillow he dozed off into a dreamless sleep.
x-x-x-x-
Temari and Kankuro entered Gaara's office with grave expressions.
''I suppose word has reached here.'' Temari said slowly and Gaara frowned.
''Word about what?''
''Konoha.'' Kankuro said seriously, shaking his head as if it was preposterous that the Kazekage did not know.
Gaara stood up and braced his hands on the table. ''Whats going on?'' he demanded.
''Konoha was destroyed...like the others. No survivors.'' Kankuro reported.
Gaara's face paled and he sat down, rubbing a hand over his face and keeping his hand there longer than necessary.
Temari and Kankuro didn't speak, they simply waited for Gaara to tell them what came next.
''News came, that Madara will be making Konoha his main stronghold.'' Gaara said with a disbelieving shake of his head.
''How dare he?'' Kankuro snapped, turning away and punching the wall.
''Why would he tell everyone?'' Temari asked.
''Because he knows, even together we cannot beat him now. So why hide.'' Gaara answered. There was a silence where they all seemed to feel the helplessness and the anger.
''There's more that you should know.'' Temari began in a hushed voice but Gaara shook his head and tapped his ear.
They were always being listened to. They couldn't speak openly here.
Temari nodded and watched Gaara tap his wrist. They would find a way to speak later in private.
Temari bit her lip, how long would Suna last...would they have time to even have this important conversation?
''We'll see you at dinner then.'' Kankuro said slowly.
Gaara nodded.
Temari stared at Gaara seriously, trying to convey the importance of everything, and then she turned and followed Kankuro outside.
The sun was almost setting - and soon they would be able to talk.
x-x-x-x-
Sakura was sure of two things. One - it was incredibly late and two - she was drunk. Like student, like teacher.
Luckily she had managed to stumble her way back to the inn. Kaede's daughter shot her dirty and disapproving looks, but really, it wasn't as if Sakura could care much in her state. There wasn't much to care about in general really. That was the fucked up reality of her little...situation.
There was more she actually had to worry about, but now she had a new priority - the motherfucking cursed seal on the back of her neck.
''Thanks for mentioning that, by the way Kalika!...You stupid bitch.'' Sakura muttered, making her way down the hall and trying to remember their room number.
Ah yes, number 7 - what a fucking cliche, ''Thank you universe and fate and whoever gives us these useless signs.'' she said sarcastically as she opened the locked door. Breaking said lock in the process. And closing it behind her.
Sakura noticed Naruto's form on the bed. Shirtless and sleeping soundly.
She walked over to him, the moonlight barely shining in from the window, illuminating his upper body. The rise and fall of his toned chest. Her vacant eyes flicked up to his face, the way his thick eye lashes seemed to vibrate in his sleep, his clear, unmarked cheeks, and finally - his parted lips.
Sakura remembered Tsunade's intoxicated rants, about how she made the pain go away on drunken, meaningless nights, where nameless men made her feel good, and how in some way they had all resembled Dan. Her lost lover.
Sakura had no such excuse. She only knew that in his moment, in this new world, Naruto shared her pain and he could make it go away, even for a little while.
Sakura jumped up onto the bed and straddled Naruto's waist. She leaned down and left a wet, sloppy kiss on his lips.
Naruto woke with a start. ''S-Sak- what are you doing?''
''Have I ever told you how incredibly hot I find this?'' she asked, running her hands down his upper body, over his well toned muscles.
Naruto shuddered involuntarily and grabbed her hands. ''Sakura-chan, you - you're drunk.''
Sakura smirked and leaned down, licking his neck up to his ear and whispered, ''So - what? I can tell you want this, you've wanted this for a long time, haven't you?''
Naruto's treacherously devious body had a mind of its own, and he shuddered again.
Sakura giggled at the reaction. ''Come on, nows your chance.''
This was wrong. She was drunk. He couldn't do this. Yes, he wanted to. But no. Because the truth was, sober - Sakura would never do this. If she was sober now - never.
Naruto sat up. Mistake. Her chest connected with hers and she let out a low moan. ''Yes, Naruto...!''
Naruto grabbed her shoulders and created some distance.
Sakura's eyes narrowed. She wouldn't have that. Not. At. All.
Sakura shoved his arms away and used her force to push him down.
''Now, now - don't be such a good boy.'' she scolded.
Naruto scowled. He couldn't do this.
''Sakura-chan, No.''
''Oh don't be such a baby!'' she snapped. ''Its just sex. Its not like its gonna mean anything anyway.''
Naruto closed his eyes and sat up, grabbing her wrist.
''Enough, Sakura-chan.'' he said, and the sadness in his voice made her hesitate.
''Let me take away the pain.'' she whispered, leaning in.
The pain is you, Sakura-chan.
And then she kissed him. And Naruto stilled completely. For a second her let himself feel her kiss, imagining that she was sober and she actually wanted this. That she loved him. Naruto then pressed into the pressure point in her neck.
Sakura slumped against him, unconscious.
Naruto could not sleep that night.
x-x-x-x-
''Let me start at the most important.'' Temari said, in the safety of their underground cellar beneath their house, and thanks to a sandstorm they could speak without fear of being overheard.
''This is probably the only good news...I found Haruno Sakura.''
Gaara gave a relieved sigh. ''That's...great news.''
''And, when I found her, and we returned to Konoha, I found someone else...'' she trailed off with a smile and watched Gaara's eyes widen in disbelief.
''It can't be...'' he whispered.
''I don't know how its possible, but Naruto is alive.''
''What? How? After Konoha-'' Kankuro asked.
''They escaped. They must be alive.'' Temari said, they judged from her voice that she really wanted to believe that.
She didn't wait and fell into a report of what she knew. ''The Shadows are here to make sure we get destroyed. Madara probably wants people to think that he had no choice and that we stepped out of line, but really, the Shadows have to provoke us.'' she paused for a beat and then fell right back into it, ''They are also possibly looking for information, Naruto overheard a meeting between them where he mentioned as much. So we must assume that the Shadows are not exactly forthcoming with their motives. We didn't expect them to be anyway.''
And then Temari fell into a description of their attack plan.
After she'd made it outside Konoha's limits and the barrier closed her out, she had circled around, hid within the trees and shadows, were she could observe the attack.
She explained it emotionlessly en mechanically. How the Shadows could enter and exit the barrier they had set up, but no one else could escape it. The Shadows entered, some fought, but most set up the explosive tags - probably fueled by a massive amount of their chakra - all around the village at strategically planned places. Once that task was done, some stayed - killing off some of the villagers just for the pleasure of the kill, but once time was up. They retreated, closing off the barrier and completing a powerful Jutsu outside of the barrier, and once initiated - Konoha was destroyed.
Silence filled the room, what could they really say to that? The fact that Konoha was destroyed so swiftly, was unthinkable, and yet it was the truth. Not many Hidden Villages remained and Suna could very well be next.
''Look, I know this is gonna sound crazy...'' Kankuro began hesitantly. ''But, I think we should abandon Suna.''
''Excuse me?'' Temari asked, too shocked to actually be angry.
''I know, I know.'' Kankuro said with a sigh. ''But, it sounds to me like we have no chance to begin with, so - we evacuate the villagers and make it out before they even get a chance.''
Temari shook her head. ''I get where you're coming from, but the barrier closes in less than 5 minutes. We cannot get all the villagers out in that small window. If anyone could make it out - like me and like Naruto and Sakura - we have to be a small group.''
''Its not an option.'' Gaara said, with a shake of his head. ''I can't abandon the villagers.''
''If the Kazekage left, maybe they wouldn't attack, without a leader a village can't be worth it.'' Kankuro suggested.
''Yes, and maybe they attack anyway to set an example. We can't take that chance.'' Temari interjected.
''So do you suggest we just sit around and wait to be killed?'' Kankuro raged, rounding on Temari.
''No! Of course not!'' she returned, ''I saw what happened at Konoha! I would never even think we do nothing! But abandoning Suna...we can't!''
''Stop it!'' Gaara ordered, his voice laced with anger, making Temari and Kankuro turn to him.
''This is getting us nowhere. Kankuro, both Temari and I understand your point of view, but we can't agree to forfeiting the lives of the villagers, if I was not the Kazekage...then maybe that would have been an option for us. But this is the position I am in. I don't see any other option for us, since we have no possible assessment of the abilities of our enemies and their battle plan has 100% fatalities...fighting back isn't an option either.'' Gaara broke off and took a deep breath. ''I need some time to think about this,'' he told them. He just hoped he had enough time.
x-x-x-x-
Sakura awoke to a terrible scream. She bolted upright and grabbed her head with a groan.
A large hand covered her mouth and she froze, turning around to find Naruto who put a finger over his lips and when she nodded, he removed the hand.
She saw that he'd blocked the door with some furniture, their twin nightstands, and a flimsy wooden closet.
Another scream followed more terrifying than the first but it was cut off short.
''Whats going on?'' Sakura whispered, a soft green glow enveloping her hands as she began to heal the after-effects of the alcohol and burning away the toxins from her system.
''They're here for some reason,'' Naruto whispered back. ''Madara's Shadows.''
Sakura turned her head to the door. ''We need to go.'' she whispered, already getting out of bed.
''We are Vengeance, We are Prosecution, We are the Law. We are a Kami's akai soldiers.'' came the deep voice from outside the door.
''Haruno Sakura we know you are in there, come outside and face Madara-sama's ultimate Justice.''
''Like hell I will,'' she muttered and pushed the window open. ''Lets go.'' she whispered to Naruto.
She squeezed herself through and helped Naruto.
Winter had come to the Fire Country and at 3am in the morning it was freezing. Puffs of white air came from their mouths and the both reached up to block their mouths and noses.
Naruto and Sakura began running through the buildings, but never ventured to the main road.
It was a small town and they made it to the line of trees in no time. The branches were to slippery to travel on so they stayed on the forest floor, making their way through the trees.
''That was too easy...'' Sakura said.
''Keep your guard up.''
Sakura nodded.
The cold was almost unbearable. Even though Sakura had mostly healed up, she had lost a lot of weight and muscles which meant her body could handle so much less strain. Without an consistent routine, working in some time for training let alone eating would be hard.
She'd had maybe 2 full meals since leaving Kalika's, which didn't help her malnourishment.
''Fucking old witch!'' Sakura snapped. ''She sold me out, but not you!''
''You can't say that for sure...'' Naruto offered weakly and Sakura shot him a dark look.
''How dare she...ugh!'' Sakura cursed softly.
''You were right.'' Naruto offered but Sakura waved him off. ''In a way, so were you. You trusted her, and she kept your secret.''
''Anyway, -'' Sakura turned to look in front of her...''What the hell is that?''
''I can't see...'' Naruto attached chakra to his feet and climbed the tree - always being careful to stick to the shadows and foliage that the tree provided.
''What is it?'' Sakura whispered.
Naruto felt his heart drop. This was bad. ''A blockade. They didn't follow us, because there is no way we can get through.''
''We can't go back either, at least for the time being.'' Sakura said.
''No, they'll probably block that way too.'' Naruto said with a frown.
''They're trapping us in...or...me, at least. Since they think I'm alone.''
Naruto slid down from the tree.
''We should set up traps, get some rest. We can decide what to do tomorrow.'' Naruto decided, looking around.
''We passed a cave a while back. That will do for tonight.'' Sakura suggested and when Naruto agreed, they back tracked carefully and set up a few traps, that would alert them in time so they could escape quickly.
Sakura collected a few dry logs that she could find and set a small fire in the cave.
''You sleep, I'll take the first watch.''
''Sakura-chan, that-''
''Naruto, please.''
Naruto wouldn't meet her eyes, he simply relented and laid down by the fire.
Soon, she heard his soft snores and she felt herself relax to the familiar sound. Things were coming to a quick point. Being trapped in the woods was a smart plan...she had to admit. But they were obviously underestimating her - heavily. A mistake they would come to regret.
The blockage placement led her believe that Madara was most likely blocking their way to the Wind Country, so that blocked Suna, Ame and Iron beyond that and if they were blocking them in as Naruto believes then they were blocked from Oto, Yu, Hyouga and...Kumo.
Kumo and Suna were the only hidden villages left. Madara was cutting them off. Too bad he miscalculated. They weren't headed to a hidden village. They were looking for Sasuke.
North and West weren't options anymore. South led back to Konoha so...East. They would head East for now.
Sakura watched the sun rise, she could feel fatigue pulling on her, but she decided that she could at least train some during her guard shift. She molded some chakra. Yes, boring. This was the part she hated most about training, but she needed to start slow and build up her strength.
Sakura let Naruto sleep until 8am, where the switched shifts with a subdued silence. Sakura, though, was hoping that when she fell asleep she'd ask around and maybe someone would give her a clue on where to find Sasuke.
And to answer her wish, when she opened her eyes, she came face to face with Uchiha Itachi.
Hey again,
Thanks to all who review/favorited/alerted.
But seriously...don't hit and run. Any review would be appreciated.
This is not a NaruSaku fic, I just believe that adding some elements make it more realistic, because Naruto does love her, even if it is one-sided.
Other than that, any questions etc - feel free to review / pm me lol.
Zana-Lee
xoxo