It didn't surprise her when the door she'd only just closed behind her opened with a quiet squeak. There was no need to turn to see who was entering her bedroom. Even ignoring the distinctive, twisted smell of his chakra, there was only one person in this base that would dare enter her room without permission.
"How did it go?"
A frown marred her features as the slithering quality of his voice hit her ears. Though she had made an effort, she couldn't get used to the massive change he'd undergone since they once worked together. Slim fingers tugged at the clasp near her neck holding the thick cape in place. She allowed it to slip from her shoulders and tossed it lightly on the bed, removing the mask covering the lower portion of her face and shaking out her hair.
"Just as I said it would." As she spoke, the henge she'd had disguising her features melted away. She absently rubbed her cheeks as she turned to face him, doing her best to hold that blank expression she'd adapted so many months ago.
"Did it?"
She ignored the mocking tone he used. "Of course. I made sure to only speak with the ones I wasn't overly familiar with. Their curiosity was already piqued; I just needed to give them a little push."
A slow, toothy grin took place on the man's face and no matter how many times she had seen that look, it still sent chills down her spine. A fine tremor started building in her body; one that she fought to control. She knew her instincts were trying to warn her, remind her that though they were acting as temporary partners, this man was not to be trusted.
"Well that's fine then," that hissing voice replied. "I just hope they enjoy their time spent with my precious creations. After all, they took considerable more effort than all the others."
He closed the door behind him once more, his raspy chuckling still able to be heard through the thick wood. It was only for an instant, but a pang of what she supposed was worry flickered through her. Her head shook violently, banishing that feeling to the bottom of her trodden on heart. This was deserved. This was her own brand of revenge.
Even if she had to team up with someone so twisted and disgusting – it was worth it.
It had to be.
While she had visited the Land of Grass once before, Sakura was amazed at the vast differences between the various parts of the large country. When she, Naruto, and Yamato-taicho met with Orochimaru at the Heaven and Earth Bridge, she'd noted the sparsely inhabited lands and miles of forest that covered the hillsides. Towering cliffs and deep ravines were scattered throughout the land as well. The area they were currently traveling through was also one that looked to be fairly untraveled, but the dense forest was nothing like the almost peaceful area she had visited further up north. The thick nest of trees ran wild, their roots pushing their way out of the soil as they battled with one another for precious space. The branches tangled with one another so much that sunlight was barely able to pierce the complicated system of leaves, leaving the forest floor covered in perpetual shadows. The foliage of the area grew unchecked, providing odd spectacles of nature for the groups view. The dark gray mushroom peppered with yellow spots that stood nearly as tall as she did a few hundred yards back had stunned the pinkette to be sure.
A low whistle from Kakashi was all the warning the group had before he slowed his quick pace and dropped from the trees. He cast one glance around his team, ensuring they were all in place, before setting out at a slow pace through the tangled underbrush. They'd traveled hard and fast - finally reaching the area the ANBU team was supposed to have infiltrated after two days. Sasuke stayed alert, his sharingan activated, as he followed the group from his position at the rear. He attributed most of the tension surrounding Kakashi to the jonin's worry over the very shinobi he'd sent on the mission. However, he recognized his former sensei's vast skills and quick decision making capabilities - it would behoove him to stay ready for battle.
The dense area surrounding them soon began to thin bit by bit until they found themselves walking towards yet another deep ravine. A rope bridge spanned the considerable space between the two sections of land. Sasuke glanced over the side, a bit surprised by the sheer drop of the cliff and the darkened area at the bottom of the crevice. The depth of the crevice was more than he'd expected.
"There's nothing good about this."
Sasuke found himself agreeing with the softly uttered words of the woman before him. Everything about this had warning bells firing in his mind, but he knew he was not alone in that feeling. All the shinobi crossing the bridge walked with their eyes scanning the surrounding area, waiting to catch sight of either their missing shinobi or an enemy face. Sasuke scrutinized the area they were about to walk into, but could find nothing out of sorts. There was a small line of grassy grounds before it once again turned into a wooded area. The tree line did not seem to be as thick as the one they just left, so perhaps there was indeed a village just ahead. As his eyes finished their scan of the terrain, he found himself raking his gaze down Sakura's back for what seemed like the hundredth time during their journey.
Disgusted with himself, he made a conscious effort to turn away from the body in front of him. This was becoming ridiculous in his opinion. Never before had he concerned himself with gazing at another person - except to gauge their strengths in or before a battle. No matter how he tried to rationalize it at first, he knew these glances did not fall into that category.
There was no need for him to eye the length of her long legs, taking note of every curve down those shapely pillars. Why would he need to watch her face so intensely? What about her emerald eyes and rosy lips continued to draw his attention as it had? And he certainly knew there was no reason to – once again – be staring at her ass. The short, split skirt covering her bounced lightly with each step she took. It had an almost hypnotic effect, drawing in his eyes as he silently marched behind her.
Realizing what he was doing, he blew out an angry breath and jerked his gaze away. Though observing her was not entirely new, the frequency of it – as well as the intensity – had only worsened after that irrational move he'd made days before. Kissing her had never been part of his intention when he'd followed her out of the camp. Yet, it happened and there was no way to reverse it. Now, he only wished the repercussions of that hastily made decision were not so prominent in his mind.
"Stay close."
His mind refocused when Kakashi's sharp words reached his ears. They were now entering the forest line and the area reported by the woman in the market place to hold a small village that was attacked. There was nothing out of sorts they could see on the way to the village. No obvious disturbances to the greenery, no signs of traps having been laid, no detection of chakra anywhere around them. Were they truly heading in the right direction?
"I think I see a clearing up ahead." Sai reported, walking at Kakashi's right side.
"Aa, so do I. Stay alert."
They were right. The tree line opened up into a large clearing. It's size was not comparable to Konoha by any means, but the area was large enough for a few dozens houses to occupy its space.
"She was telling the truth," Naruto remarked, almost in disbelief.
"So it seems." Kakashi's exposed eye raked over the quiet town. "Anything out of place to you?"
"Eh? Like what?"
"Naruto, where are the people?" Sakura supplied him with the answer Kakashi had been searching for. The jinchuriki's mouth parted slightly before he whipped his head around once more, staring at the wooden homes as if to produce someone for their sight.
The dirt paths cutting into the forest floor led them down the middle of the small town. Some of the doors on the homes stood open, yet no one came to greet them as the shinobi wandered through the narrow streets. Most all the buildings were family homes, but there were a few shops scattered amongst them. The group entered what appeared to be a small restaurant judging by the sign hanging from one dirty window. A register did indeed sit at the counter, but the shop was as empty as the rest. However, most of the table and chairs were turned over, some of them even broken. Strange scratches trailed down the walls, plates lay broken on the floor. A rotting smell emanated from the back and, curious by nature, Naruto leapt over the counter to investigate. Sounds of him gagging soon followed.
"What is it Naruto?" Sakura called in worry, barely resisting the urge to cover her nose.
He emerged once more, wiping the sweat from his brow and taking deep gulps of the less tainted air. "Wherever these people are, they didn't bother cleaning up before they left."
"What do you mean?"
"It looks like that in the kitchen was supposed to be dinner, about two weeks ago. It's covered in flies and maggots! Fucking nasty!"
She cast a glance around the empty room before following a still sputtering Naruto and her team out of the building. Startled by the discovery, they decided to split up and conduct a more thorough investigation of the town. The results were the same. After two hours of searching every house, calling out for anyone to answer, they found no traces of any humans – or even any bodies – left in the village. The frustrated group met in the center of the town once they were finished.
"What could have happened here? Do you think it's possible this town was just abandoned after the war?" Sakura asked.
"That is possible, but I don't think that's the case," Kakashi replied. "I found evidence of food left in other homes as well. The decomposition would be much further along if no one had been here since the war began. Besides, this wasn't exactly in the projected path of the fighting. I doubt they would have been given an evacuation order."
"There are some signs of a disturbance taking place, but I didn't find anything to indicate anyone was killed here."
"I agree with you Sai. I found some broken furniture and busted windows, but no recent graves or evidence of death either."
"We just haven't finished the search."
Sakura turned to Sasuke, obviously confused by his statement. "But we searched the whole village."
Sasuke looked out to the surrounding forest, the area opposite from where they entered and nodded his head. Kakashi stood from his crouched position. "On this, Sasuke's right. We need to cover every available area; we still have our shinobi to find."
The team followed behind their captain as they entered the back forest. They were less than fifty feet in when the faint trails people once traveled were no longer visible. The canopy above them began overlapping and the afternoon sun could barely break through the dense foliage. Shadows danced along the way as they weaved around the large trees and thick bushes. Large patches of moss grew along not only the towering trees, but also the occasional boulder they passed.
The further in they traveled, the more they noticed the lack of animals in a forest this size. They'd seen no signs of deer, boars, even the call of birds was a rare sound. All Sakura could attest to seeing was a dark black snake that nearly dropped onto her shoulder as she stood atop a fallen trunk to survey her surroundings. The scream that had been working its way out of her throat died as Sasuke calmly grasped the hissing creature in his hand and threw it away from their positions. She wasn't sure if the look he sent her was one of amusement or annoyance, but she resolved to be more alert as they traveled.
The team had spread further out as they walked – keeping each other in sight, but leaving enough distance that they could cover more ground. Kakashi was wary to have the group split up in these circumstances. While there had been no signs of an enemy as of yet, the odd feeling surrounding the village behind them put him on edge. Why would an entire town – judging by the number of homes he guessed there were some two hundred people living there – just abandon their homes and walk away? Why were some of the windows broken and marks scratched into the walls?
He knew he wouldn't find overt signs that his ANBU team had been here, but he expected to find something. Though they had traveled fast and hard to reach this destination, he'd kept his eyes and ears open on the journey. There were no rumors circulating about a battle of any kind nor of any other area being attack on this route. With nothing else to go on, he continued on with the original plan and brought his team to their final location. But even after searching this town and surrounding forest carefully, he had seen nothing to led him to their position. The possibility of finding his missing comrades was becoming very slim.
The laughter sparked out of nowhere, making everyone tense and glance about frantically searching for its origin. Its echo died out, leaving nothing but the eerie silence of the forest in its wake. Each member of the team held utterly still, muscles tensed in anticipation for whatever might come at them. The noise had been to short in existence for them to determine where it came from or what could have made it. They didn't have to wait long for it to pierce their ears once more; this time, it was clear to each of them.
It was the sound of a child laughing, and the best they could guess with its echoes about the forest, a young child at that.
They set out warily, weapons drawn and senses alert, as they searched for the unknown child. They were barely four miles from the abandoned village - short enough of a trek even for a child to have escaped from. The carefree laughter sounded once more and Sakura veered to her right, following the out of place sound. Kakashi made a low noise, gaining their attentions, and gave a quick set of hand signals. Sai and he were going to break further left while Sakura and Sasuke continued on to the right. Naruto silently made his way to the other side of Sakura and Sasuke and slipped between the trees before making a clone to accompany him. They walked towards the epicenter of the echoing sound in that V formation.
The first spatter of blood the medic noticed was waist high on the bark of a tree they passed. It stood out from the dark browns and greens she had been focusing on, though its color had already faded to a deep red as it dried out. she caught Sasuke's eye and pointed out the anomaly to him. He showed no surprise at the sight and when she raised her eyebrow in question, he pointed the tip of his Kusunagi to the underbrush just ahead. Beneath the small canopy of bushes, her eyes landed on a dark patch of sand and grass. The closer they walked, the more the color became clear to her. What had seemed to be nothing more than a shadowed area was a patch of grass covered in what appeared to be days old blood. That which had not seeped into the dirt had laid on top of the grass, coagulating into a thick puddle that clung to the greenery around it.
The laughter sound again. Sakura clenched her hand around her kunai and edged closer to Sasuke as they continued forward. Her skin tingled with warning, but the fear she had for the child spurred her to continue forward. The very thought of an innocent, helpless child lost in these woods enraged her and made her mind whirl with questions. Where was the child's parents? Where were the many villagers who should have occupied those empty houses they found?
They walked up a short slope, parted the prickly bushes that blocked their way, and saw the dirty, tangled hair of a child sitting in front of a tree. Taking his size into consideration, Sakura guessed him to be around three years old. The blue shirt covering him was dirty and slightly torn, but she could see no blood covering it. He had his back to the pair of them, his left arm waving about as he laughed once more before bring his right hand up and putting something in his mouth. Sakura gave a silent sigh of relief to have found the child unharmed, but Sasuke halted her forward motion with a firm grasp on her arm. His Sharingan eyes swept their surroundings, checking every visible place for any kind of trap. He was more than surprised when he found none set. The situation seemed to be just what their eyes could see - a child lost in the forest.
Sakura waited until Sasuke looked down at her once more, silently waiting permission to continue. When he gave a slight nod, she stepped forward and called out to him. "Hello?"
The child didn't turn to her voice, but laughed freely once more, his voice bubbling with an innocence heard only in the young. She gave a relieved smile and slowly approached the little boy. "Sweetie, are you out here all by yourself?" His right hand raised and she heard his lips smack around something once more. She hoped he was not eating any of the foliage or mushrooms growing around. More than likely, from the glances she'd spared the greenery, they were poisonous - especially to one so young. She took the last few steps separating them and bent at her waist, brushing her cherry hair behind her ear and letting a sweet smile split her face to try and not scare the child. She placed her hand gently on his back and called once more. "Are you okay?"
The sight that met her eyes as his head finally tilted to hers froze the very blood in her veins. To shocked to scream or move, she could only stare down in horror as the boy's teeth tore the flesh off the finger he held in his hand. What appeared to be the remaining portion of a hand laid between the child's blood spattered legs. He swallowed the lump of flesh in his mouth and waved the partially devoured finger up at her, his red smeared face smiling as that tinkling laughter sounded once more.
"Sakura?"
She couldn't respond to Sasuke's call, could barely remove her shaking hand from the child's back. She felt the bile rise in her throat as he placed that mangled digit between his lips. Her body was screaming at her to move, pleading with her to get away from the child and run out of this village. The most she managed to do was take a shaky step back. The rustling of leaves didn't register in her mind, but she felt the impact of Sasuke's hard body as he collided with her – one of his arms wrapped around her waist as they began to twist and fall. Her eyes flickered up and barely caught the events as they happened.
A man had dropped from the trees just behind her as she continued to stare at the bloody child. Her brain quickly processed the split second scan she was able to take of him as Sasuke collided with her. The Uchiha pulled her to his body, twisted them so they would fall and roll into the underbrush, and – as he allowed them to spin – took the man's head off in one clean swipe. The child never so much as cried when the corpse dropped just behind him. Sakura tucked her head into her savior's chest and tumbled with him until they were hidden under the thick brush a few yards away from the eerie scene.
Though it happened so quickly, Sakura did not need to ask why Sasuke had taken such drastic action. The very smell of that man still hung in her nose. He had been shirtless, his naked torso covered in open, dirty wounds that were already beginning to show signs of infection. Dried blood, dirt, and grass clung to his wiry frame. His hair had been a tangled mass of indistinguishable items. What scared her the most was the wild, near feral look in his eyes. He had not held a weapon, rather he bared his teeth at her and she could swear a growl had came from deep in his throat before Sasuke ended his life.
Something, perhaps a rock, was pressing deep into her back, but she dared not move from her position. Sasuke laid over her, his arm still encircling her waist, but his head was raised and eyes frantically searching the tiny clearing for any other attackers. She clung to the dark shirt covering his chest, willing her mind to calm down and think rationally. Under the circumstances, that seemed to be impossible. They held silent, listening to the sounds of the forest, but could hear no one else moving about. All that met their ears was the disturbing cooing of the child sitting beside the dead body.
"Aaaaaaaahhhhh..."
The pair locked eyes in panic as Naruto's scream echoed through the forest. In but a second, Sasuke had them both up and running in the direction of his voice. Sakura flared her chakra, pushing it to her legs and struggling to stay right beside Sasuke as he ran through the forest at incredible speeds. The scream they heard came from Naruto's clone as he was ambushed by two people in much the same condition as the one Sasuke had killed. She watched as they both grabbed at his arms, tugging against each other in an effort to have him for themselves. He struggled, adding to the chaos, and the trio were thrown against a large tree. The clone dispersed in a puff of white smoke leaving behind two very confused humans. Naruto himself leapt from one of the trees, catching Sasuke's arm, and forcing them to run as he dashed away from the still shocked pair of bloody people.
"What the hell is going on?" the jinchuriki asked as they fled.
Sasuke shook his head. "I don't know."
"That's the third clone I've gone through trying to stay away from those...I don't think we can call them people anymore."
"What do you mean Naruto?" Sakura asked, panting as the effort to stay abreast with her two fastest team mates taxed her body.
"They didn't just attack me Sakura-chan, they were...I know what I saw, you know I'm not crazy! And they didn't even speak to me. And why are they all covered in blood! And why do they smell like that?"
"Naruto!" the pinkette shouted. "Calm down! You're not making any sense."
"We gotta hurry," he replied, ignoring her. "We gotta find Kaka-sensei and Sai."
They raced towards the point they knew their team mates to be in, weapons firmly in their grasp. The sound that rose above the trees stood the hairs on the back of their necks on end. It didn't originate from their fellow shinobi, of that they were certain. The most disturbing thing was their inability to tell whether it was human or animal in nature. Sakura's foot caught on something and she went tumbling to the ground, rolling painfully as her knees scraped against the jagged rocks on the forest floor. Naruto was quickly at her side to help her stand. Her eyes landed on the object that caused her to fall and she yelled for the men to stop. It was partially hidden beside the roots of a large tree, but there was no mistaking the shoe that lay before them.
It was a shinobi's boot.
Sakura moved forward to investigate, but Sasuke wasn't allowing her to do so this time. He pulled her back behind him once more and approached the foot himself, his katana held securely in his hand. He reached down, taking hold of the ankle and pulling it free of the bush rather than walking forward into the darkness. When he met with little resistance, he knew what he was gripping. He loathed to bring it out for his friends to see.
"Sai!"
Kakashi's yell cut through the silent tension.
"We gotta go!" Sakura cried and took off into the forest. Naruto was right on her heels as she ran. Sasuke eyed the jagged remains of the leg in his grasp before tossing it to the ground. His chakra hummed through his body as he used his body flicker to move back to his team mates side. The danger of this mission had just skyrocketed. A cold feeling began to seep into his chest. No matter the opponents he had faced, none of them had been prone to tearing apart their enemies. He wasn't happy to know they had now found an enemy who was apt to do so.
The piercing sound of a thousand birds chirping in tandem met their ears only a heartbeat before they saw the electric blue light of Kakashi's Raikiri. They ran through the area Sakura and Sasuke encountered the small child, but though the corpse still lay where it had fallen, the child was no where to be seen. Sakura spared no further thought to his disappearance as they raced through the trees. The distance they were being forced to cover worried her more than anything. Though they had separated while searching for the child's cries, the team should not have broken this far apart.
That musty smell hit her nose once more and she fought back the bile rising in her throat. An incoherent yell of pain echoed through the forest. Sakura began gathering her chakra in her arms, preparing herself for whatever enemy they would face.
Naruto burst through the tree line first, taking no time to ask questions of Kakashi's attacker, but throwing himself into the foray and tackling two men trying to advance on the jonin. His heavy punches sent the men flying as they struggled to get back up and the jinchuriki turned back to stand beside his sensei as they faced down a dozen or so wild eyed creatures. "What the hell is going on Kaka-sensei?"
"I'm as confused as you." Kakashi took a moment to kick away the body of one of his attackers, a hole blasted through his chest from the copy cat's Raikiri. "These people haven't answered any questions I've posed to them and they haven't attacked with weapons or jutsus either."
Naruto cringed back on reflex as two of them eyed him strangely. He took in the ragged appearance they all seemed to share – most of them with bare feet, torn clothing, and patches of blood their bodies. As he had experienced earlier, they spoke no words, but instead grunted and growled at both one another and him. "This group is just like the ones who attacked me."
"Kaka-sensei!" Sakura shouted as she glanced around the area. "Where's Sai?"
Kakashi ducked a wild lunge by one of the men circling them and landed a swift kick to his back, propelling him into the woods. "We got separated when we were ambushed."
Naruto caught sight of her worried expression darting back between the break in the foliage where it seemed their team mate had been forced and the situation he and his sensei were in. "Go look for Sai Sakura-chan. We can handle this."
"Are you sure?" She was already working her way back from them, easing back from the men who's attention had slowly turned her way.
"Of course!" He shouted, giving her his trademark grin. "Find that rude bastard and bring him back. Sasuke-teme, watch her back for me."
Sasuke spared a moment to quirk his brow at the whiskered man before turning to follow the young woman through the trees. Naruto's loud call for his clone jutsu followed behind him. It wasn't as far as he was suspecting before they began to see the remnants of Sai's battle. Ink from his jutsu covered the trunks of trees and rocks littering the ground. He heard Sakura scream "Sai!" before she sent one chakra powered fist through a nearby thick trunk, shattering it and sending it toppling towards the group advancing on her friend.
Several of the unsightly humans lay thrashing on the ground, wrapped up in his ink snakes. More were facing down the tigers Sai was fond of drawing. Sasuke watched for a moment as they circled the unique jutsu of the pale man. His critical eye took in the wild movements of their attacks, the lack of team work and pattern to every move they made. Sakura's battle cry had him moving once more, advancing on the crowd that had formed. He caught sight of one jumping down from the trees and ran his Kusunagi though the woman before she could hit the ground.
The next few minutes were taxing for the trio. While Kakashi had a dozen of these people attacking him, Sai had been led to an area filled with the creatures. Wave after wave of the snarling masses continued to claw at the shinobi. Sasuke's sharingan was useful in determining their movements, but he could see no chakra rushing through their system. The attacks were pure physical strength – no weapons, no chakra. The lack of their coordinated movements would have been easy enough to fend off, but they made up for the lack of training and skill with sheer power and numbers. His eyes flickered to Sakura briefly, glad to find her defending herself well enough, because he couldn't spare the time to be distracted from his own battle.
Using his katon jutsus would be impossible in this narrow, dense section of forest they fought in. The surrounding foliage would go up in a blaze, trapping even his partners in the fire. He was able to use his chidori to some extent, but the majority of the fight was with his blade and fists. He felt hands land on his shoulder and thrust a sharp kick to the unknown attackers middle. Dispatching with the one in front of him, he turned to find a boy of no more than twelve staring up at him with feral eyes. A whimper of pain past the child's mouth, but he still stood and lunged the Uchiha once more, haphazardly clawing at the shinobi's clothes.
A rumble in the earth threw the child of balance and Sasuke rammed his fingers into the boy's throat – cutting off his oxygen supply and sending him to his knees. Sakura was panting from exertion, but her chakra laced punch into the ground had disturbed the steady flow of the masses from the forest. Sasuke stumbled forward as a woman threw herself at his back while shrieking into his ear. He quickly threw her off, planting his katana into her chest the moment she hit the ground.
"Ahhh!"
"Sai!"
Sakura's scream was laced with terror. Sasuke cut through three more of the snarling, shabby people and raced towards her position. He made it near her just in time to see the green glow of her chakra scalpels disappear into a man's neck. When the body went limp, she pulled him off their pale team mate. Much as he didn't want to believe his eyes, the torn flesh and teeth marks on Sai's exposed abdomen was proof enough. The disturbing theory he'd had since their first encounter with these people proved to be true.
Sai's breathing was labored and his face twisted in pain. He knew Sakura needed to heal him soon, but present conditions wouldn't allow her the opportunity. Sasuke took stock of his surroundings quickly and made a rash decision. He pushed the medic onto their fallen comrade and forced them behind a large rock despite her shriek of protest. He leapt forward, running through the familiar hand seals, before landing in the middle of the group. As their hands outstretched towards his body, he discharged the chakra he'd built up with a loud cry.
"Chidori Nagashi!"
Lightening streaked through their bodies, sending up screams of pain as their muscles contracted painfully and sent them falling to the earth. Sasuke kept up the jutsu, watching as the current leapt from one dingy body to the next. With nearly twenty of them surrounding him, he knew it would not be a fatal blow, but it would buy more than enough time for them to escape. He could not control it well in this state, but hoped that Sakura would be protected from its effects behind that large stone. When the last body dropped to the ground, he dispelled the technique and cast a critical eye to the tree line. No other attackers showed themselves.
"Sakura."
The pinkette stood with a slight grunt, Sai gathered in her arms. "We're good Sasuke; let's go."
Sai opened his eyes with difficulty. "My legs are functioning."
Sakura didn't glance down to see the slight darkening to his face, but sent him a frown none-the-less. "You're exhausted and badly wounded. Just shut up until I can get you somewhere safe to examine you." Even running behind Sasuke, dodging the fallen bodies and over uneven terrain, her arms didn't waver with the extra weight.
She heard the pain lacing his tone as he replied. "This...ugh...this seems very different than the books I've read."
"I've told you before Sai, you shouldn't take everything you read in a literal context. Some things are going to be different through your interactions with people." Sakura did her best to keep him steady in her arms in order to lessen the pain she was causing him to experience. She could feel the blood already running down her arms as it flowed from the side of his toned stomach. "Besides, I'm not exactly the same type of woman from those useless books you're talking about."
"True." His breathing sped up as another wave of pain washed over him. Stopping himself from grunting with the discomfort was a task in itself. The low conversation he shared with the medic was helping to distract him somewhat. "Those women tend to be delicate, fragile appearing creatures. I do not believe those words could be used to describe you, Ugly."
"Pretty ballsy words coming from the man I'm carrying in my arms." Sakura tightened her grip on him as she made a sharp turn to the left behind Sasuke. She was so glad to have him with her. He effortlessly sliced through some of the protruding limbs so she would have a clear path to follow behind him. If she wasn't mistaken, he was leading them back to the abandoned village. Her worry for her other team mates was still present in her mind, but she knew there was really no way they could assist them at the moment. Until she got Sai to an area and began healing him, she was relying on Sasuke's strength to protect them both.
"Sai?"
His head lolled against her chest as he fell unconscious. His color was worsening and his breathing escalating. "How much further Sasuke?" She did her best to keep the panic out of her voice, but knew she wasn't entirely successful when the Uchiha glanced over his shoulder at her. He said nothing, but increased his pace and urged her to follow. Thankfully, the forest began thinning once more and she knew they were close to their destination.
The moment they hit the small village's edge, she dashed towards one of the larger houses they investigated earlier. Again, she was glad for the former avengers presence as she paid little attention to their surroundings once she made it into the house. She made her way to one of the bedrooms in the back and laid Sai on top of the plush blankets. Her hands worked furiously to remove his top and tug his pants further down his hips, exposing his long torso for her clinical eyes.
While the wound wasn't overly large, merely the size of a human mouth, the flesh had been ripped away...torn out with the force of the bite. The bleeding wasn't stopping on its own. Sakura bit down on the tip of her gloved left hand, pulling the leather off her so she could better control the delicate chakra flow of her medical jutsu. She worked quickly, mending the torn blood vessels with that hand alone while rummaging through her pouch with the other. She was so engrossed in her work she didn't hear Sasuke's words or the door closing behind him as he left.
Antibiotics, blood pills, and soothing cremes were laid out in a row next to the bed. Both her hands now hovered over his abdomen, pouring chakra into his system and pushing the vessels to close and flesh to rebuild itself once more. Sai moaned in pain and tensed beneath her. Sakura hated the look on his face, but could not spare the time to give him an anesthetic. In silence, she continued to work on her friend, all the while fearing whatever had infected those people had now been transferred to him.
Soon, the faces of her other team mates were looking back at her from spaces along the wall. They stood watching her work, scratches and shallow wounds covering them all. The angry line of Kakashi's brow spoke outwardly of his self-loathing for putting them in this dangerous position. Naruto's worried gaze held to his friend under her capable hands. The look she shared with Sasuke went unnoticed by the two, but words weren't needed to convey what she was feeling at that moment.
His dark eyes bored into hers. Never showing her sympathy, never belittling the slight tremor to her hands, never wavering from hers. She took hold to that confident strength he showed and used it as a crutch to hold herself up.
There were questions to be asked later. Right now, the only thing that mattered was her friends life blood dripping onto her shoes.
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A/N:
Again...up to their ears in blood. What's wrong with me? hehe
Well, that turned out a bit longer than I anticipated, but I don't think I'll hear complaints will I?
I've, yet again, seemed to acquire some new readers to the fic. Actually, quite a few of them this time. Thank you all so much for finding, reading, and – by your words – enjoying my story! I'm so glad to have all of you join me here. I hope to continue hearing from you as the story progresses. Hey! That goes for those of you still following along with me. Don't stop the reviews from coming people. I'm dying to know how you are liking the fic.
So y'all are thinking zombies huh? Well, I don't know about that but we've definitely got some crazy shit going on here. And more Konoha shinobi are on their way? A bunch of drama still left to unfold.
Thanks for reading and drop me a review! Those are always the best birthday presents for me! (And no, we are not discussing my age.)
:)