A/N: Happy 4th of July to my American readers! I heard that you people celebrate with lots of fireworks? Well, let's have a blast with this fic! Also, I'm not good at angst… It's either no angst or too much angst for me…? Just so you know, I mean nothing with the way I chose to go around this fic. It was after I wrote it all down that I remembered what the 4th of July meant to Americans. Squint for NaruHina.
Btw, you really need to send me your opinions on this chapter. Anyways, enjoy! *whispers* I'm here to kill you emotionally…
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belong to Kishimoto; this fanfic, however, belongs to yours truly.
Day 4: Slice of Life
The day had started off like normal… well, as normal as being in the middle of a war could get. The day team had received orders to check out the town that the night team had ambushed. Medics were needed to help the soldiers, civilians and prisoner or wars that were wounded during the night attack. Over the radio, higher ups had assured them that all the enemies in the village had already been taken care of; and that all they needed to do was to get their butts there.
Dr. Haruno Sakura of the Medical Corps sat inside the truck with her team of medics who chattered with one another, all fully equipped to save lives. None of them seemed worried about the possibility of being ambushed while on the open road. After all, they had the best convoys in the military, led by none other than Sergeant Uchiha Sasuke, who was also the good doctor's fiancé. They arrived early in the morning and started work as soon as possible; the sergeant directing his troops to set up perimeters while the doctor and her team got their hands bloody. Come noon, when the situation was less hectic with no one on the verge of dying, the sergeant and the doctor had their lunch together in the privacy of a tent.
"Sasuke-kun, I have no idea why people say you have a stick up your ass! Honestly!" Sakura exclaimed sarcastically over the meal before she burst out into peals of laughter. Sasuke huffed quietly and flicked his peas onto her plate of stew. She caught him,
"Don't you dare, Uchiha Sasuke! You know how much I hate peas!" She chuckled as she used one hand to wipe away stray tears and the other to spoon the peas back onto his plate. Not one to back down, he started piling more and more peas onto her plate which ended up with both of them flinging peas at each other. Sakura accurately aimed a pea right at the tip of his nose,
"Sasuke-kun, don't you know that it's bad to waste food?" She mock chided him before laughing in delight as the pea caught him by surprise, his eyes immediately crossed to stare at the spot that it had landed on. He shook his head and used a napkin to wipe the stain off. Nonchalantly, he piled a whole lot of peas onto his spoon. Sasuke looked up at his beloved and yanked the spoon backwards, a wicked smirk on his face. Sakura's eyes widened,
"Oh no no no, don't you dare! Uchiha Sasuke, I'm warning you! You'll seriously regret this decision!" Sakura waved a delicate finger at him while she backed away slowly. Her back towards the entrance of the tent, she wondered if she would be able to get away when he let the spoon go, peas flying through the air. Sakura yelped and ducked immediately, praying that none would hit her. At that very moment, a blond head peeked through the entrance; it was none other than Corporal Uzumaki Naruto.
"Hey guys, what's all this laughing about? I can hear you guys from way out-" Naruto was interrupted when his face became the target of Sasuke's tiny peas of fury.
"ARGHH, TEME! WHAT THE HELL?!" Naruto yelled as he stumbled backwards and ended up on his rump. 'Elite soldiers my ass.' Sakura thought from the safety of the floor. Naruto was back up in an instant. He pointed an accusing finger at his best friend,
"I thought I was your best friend, teme! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" He cried out, enraged. Sasuke scoffed,
"You're just bad at avoiding, that's all. You could use more practice. Look at how wonderfully Sakura ducked." He smirked and gestured towards his fiancée who was still lying flat on the floor, her hands bracing her head. Sakura looked up and balanced her head on the palm of her hands,
"So, what brings you here, Naruto? I doubt it was the smell of food… Food tent is straight ahead, by the way." She chuckled. Naruto wiped the peas from his face,
"Nah, I was just here to tell the teme that it's almost time for our perimeter patrols. Don't want him skipping out on our date, you see." He grinned and Sasuke scoffed. Sakura stood up and brushed the dirt from her clothes,
"He'll be there. After I'm done with him, that is." She winked at Sasuke; who just looked away. He couldn't hide how the tips of his ears burned red though. Sakura chuckled and turned back towards Naruto,
"Now shoo, Naruto!" She gave the blond a hug. Naruto 'oohed' and grinned perversely,
"Play nice, kiddies! Uncle Naruto wants some godchildren soon!" He left the tent cackling. Sasuke sighed and shook his head at the antics of his best friend,
"That idiot…" He muttered. He was sure that everyone in the town had heard the blonde's loud declaration. Sakura giggled as she slid into Sasuke's lap,
"He cares, Sasuke. And he's a great friend." She comforted, brushing away the bangs from his face. Sasuke laid his forehead on hers, his gaze beckoning her. She laughed slightly before leaning down and giving him a chaste kiss on the lips.
"I can't wait till this mission is over. We only have what, a few months to go before the wedding?" She mused as her hands massaged the stiffness out of Sasuke's tensed shoulders. He hummed in both agreement and delight; her hands always did magic for him.
"We'll be out of here in no time. For now, we just need to focus on our mission." He assured her as he leaned into her touch. She stared at him in silence before capturing his lips in a kiss; it was heavy with want and passion. Her hands tangled in his hair, his hands pulled her flushed against him. They pulled away after a while, both of them panting hard. Sakura grinned at his flustered face, while he smirked at hers. Unwillingly, she got out of his lap,
"Go, I can hear your boyfriend screaming for you now." She teased him while she fixes the state of her shirt, Naruto's voice in the distance. He grabbed her hands and pulled her into a tight hug before letting go.
"I love you." He whispered, his lips ghosted across her forehead. They both walked out of the tent.
"Promise me that you'd stay safe, Sasuke-kun." She told him. He nodded and left in the direction of the waving blond while she made her way back to the hospital.
They had patrolled for a while now; with both Sasuke and Naruto discussing what they were going to do after this mission. Naruto had told him about the wonderful woman with pale lavender eyes that he had met during one of his trips back home.
"I'm telling you, she's the kindest person I have ever met!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. Sasuke scoffed, he was sure that Sakura was the kindest woman besides his mother. Naruto rolled his eyes,
"Well, Hinata doesn't have Sakura's fiery temper! She's so cute because she gets flustered so easily! Argh, I just want to hug her!" Naruto boasted. It was Sasuke's turn to roll his eyes,
"Sakura's fiery spirit is what makes her, her. It's pretty fun to argue with her when she's so lively." Sasuke praised. Naruto mumbled 'Masochist' under his breath which earned him a slap to the back of his head. He winced at the sore spot of his head,
"Fine, fine. We both have different preferences. Eesh, that hurt, teme!" Naruto conceded before letting out a complaint. Sasuke smirked and glanced at him from the side of his eye,
"I'm pretty sure you deserved it, usuratonkachi." Sasuke told him frankly. Naruto was about to argue some more when Sasuke's hand was held up. He immediately sobered up… Was there an enemy nearby? He wandered away from Sasuke, to cover more ground. That was when he heard it, the unmistakable whistling of bombs heading towards them from above.
"Naruto, find cover now!" Sasuke commanded as he too dived for shelter behind a rock. Bombs were dropped all around them, the explosions causing stones and shrapnel to fly about. Sasuke gritted his teeth and kept himself tightly curled up, his hands protecting his head. He hoped that no bomb was dropped beside him; he'll be screwed if that happened. As the bombs exploded, he noticed something, they were heading further and further away from where he was, and almost as if they were heading towards the…hospital. 'SAKURA!' Sasuke realised. She was at the hospital! Oh God, please let her be safe! PLEASE!
As soon as he deemed the area to be safe, he came out of hiding and headed towards the hospital. 'Wait, Naruto…' his mind whispered to him. He turned around immediately, looking for the blond.
"Naruto, where are you?!" Sasuke shouted as he searched. He heard rustling and he ran towards it. Behind what used to be the wall of a house lay Naruto. His left hand clutched at his abdomen, blood poured profusely from it as well as his legs and from a deep gash at the side of his face. His right hand was totally gone…it had been blown off.
"Teme…" He whispered; his voice hoarse. Sasuke skidded to a stop beside him, his breath caught in his throat as he took in his best friend's condition. Unfortunately for Naruto, a bomb had been dropped mere metres from him which caused shrapnel to be embedded all over his body. Sasuke cursed aloud his hands providing pressure on the wounds; shit, Naruto was in a very bad condition, he needed emergency medical attention. Naruto grasped Sasuke's hand,
"You were right teme; I do need more practice ducking for cover." Naruto chuckled before he had a coughing fit. Blood dribbled out from the corner of his mouth. He looked Sasuke straight in the eyes,
"Go make sure Sakura-chan is alright, teme. I'll be here waiting." He grinned. Sasuke nodded and placed Naruto's hand back onto his abdomen,
"I'll go get help. You just focus on staying awake, okay? You'll be fine…" Sasuke promised. He was silent for a while,
"Thank you, Naruto." He murmured before he started for the direction of the hospital. Naruto smiled at the back of his friend before looking up towards the sky,
"Man, I wish that I got to spend more time with Hinata…" His whispered wistfully. His cerulean blue eyes dimmed, and he exhaled his last breath.
Sasuke ran as fast as he could, his heart drummed loudly in his chest. 'She's gotta be safe. She's gotta be…' He reached the site where the damage was the worse. There were fires here and there. Bodies littered the streets; some had been blown to pieces. There were no current survivors that he could see… Frantically, he made his way over to the hospital, jumping over debris,
"Sakura, where are you?!" He called out desperately through the smoke and the fires. He reached the spot where the hospital used to be, cold shock going through his body. Where previously the hospital stood, it was reduced to nothing but rubble. Sasuke circled the rubble as he yelled out Sakura's name. Then, he heard it… It was soft, but he could hear muffled calls beneath the rubble. Zeroing in to where the sound came from, he started to dig through it frantically.
His hands were bloody by the time he removed the rock that covered her pink head. He exhaled in relief when she lifted her face and jade green eyes blinked wearily at him,
"Sasuke-kun?" She murmured. Sasuke nodded and began digging through more of the rubble. Somehow, from sheer luck, Sakura had managed to survive the building collapsing on her. The piece of concrete that was above her head never touched her, being held up by other pieces around her. Apart from being dusty and a few shallow cuts, Sakura seemed fine. Sasuke attempted to lift the biggest rubble from her when he found it too heavy to do it alone. From somewhere beyond the now destroyed town, the sounds of shots being fired echoed through the air. Both widened their eyes, thoughts flying through their head.
If it wasn't bad enough that Sakura was trapped, they were also targets for enemy fire. Sasuke cursed, hefting with all his might as he tried to get the heavy concrete off her. Sakura turned her attention towards Sasuke,
"Sasuke, get yourself armed and out of here now. You know as well as I do that there is no way for you to lift this by yourself. Besides, you don't see it but I think my leg has been crushed, I can't feel it anymore… I'll only slow you down." Sakura whispered in horror. Sasuke shook his head,
"You know as well as I do that I would never leave you here alone." He argued stubbornly. The shots were nearer now. Sakura turned frantic eyes on him,
"Sasuke-kun, go. Leave me a gun; I'll buy you some time. You know I'm a sharp shooter. Please, just leave. Do it for me, okay? I won't have you killed!" Tears flowed down her cheek. Giving up on removing the rubble, Sasuke hunted around. He came back to her, carrying as many guns, bullet packs and grenades that he could possibly hold. Sakura smiled at him and took a gun (a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun) from him. She adjusted her body into position,
"Get going Sasuke, I'll buy you some time- What are you doing?!" Sakura cried out in exasperation. Sasuke had arranged the weapons neatly on the ground beside her and on the rubble near him for easy reach. He then took position,
"I'm not leaving you alone, Sakura. I'll stay here beside you. Don't worry; I'll get us out of here." Sasuke insisted, his eye looking through the scope of the AK-47. Sakura sighed and took aim herself, there was no use arguing with a determined Uchiha even when the situation was a grim as could be…
~Up next, Day 5~