If she traced her steps back far enough, she still couldn't pinpoint what led her here.
A soft light cascaded over their bodies illuminating the cobwebs and debris. She counted backwards mechanically five, four, three, two- the large gash that split across his chest slowly closed up.
She blamed sleep deprivation and maybe the ferns.
They'd waved her towards the overgrown shrine. It had the ancient allure that you only caught a glimpse of from books. Large tendril vines and dappled sunlight over the wooden facade.
The shrine's Torii was old and the paint flaked off in large pieces. She'd dipped her head through the gate and immediately felt it. She felt it before she saw the blood on the ground.
Sakura never forgot what his chakra felt like. It was heavy and charged with something dark and intelligent. It covered her in a blanket that was normally too heavy, but when she found him it was spilled across the floor, like the blood pooled around his body.
The ferns stopped waving, he was barley breathing and so was she.
She felt the last sinews of muscles knit together in nice even rows, it was monotonous clean work.
His chest look like marble in the dim light. It had dried rivers of blood running down the sides. She'd given in to the urge and smoothed her hand across the new pink skin. It felt soft to the touch.
Another job well done, Sakura whispered sardonically.
His eyes rolled behind his lids, Sakura leaned back on her heels and withdrew her hand reflexively. The dust danced in the pools of light, moving in and out of obscurity.
She wondered if leaving before he woke up would make her a guardian angel or just a coward.
Maybe it didn't matter what she called herself.
She braced her hands against her bent knees for support. She tried to take a deep breathe but the coppery scent of blood mixed with the musty air suddenly felt stifling and her stomach rolled.
Sakura stood a little too quickly and felt her head spin and the blood beat behind her ears. She'd almost forgotten about the poison.
Sakura walked slowly to the other end of the shrine. She felt around for the handle to the doors, brushing into spider webs her fingers laced into the divot in the panel and she pulled it open.
A swell of cool air rushed into the stagnant emptiness of the room. Sakura removed her mask and inhaled deeply, thankful for the reprieve from the heady scents. Leaves rustled in the canopies and her sweat felt cold against her brow.
There was a storm coming, she'd smelled rain and absentmindedly clipped her anbu mask to her belt.
Sakura was still a 2 days journey from Konoha and the lingering poison in her bloodstream was making it a very long journey back.
She was looking for a place to hunker down and lick her wounds before starting off again. Healing the Uchiha on death's door was not on her list of things to do before getting back home.
Sakura looked back at the motionless ninja. He'd lost a lot of blood and she wondered if he would have actually made it if she hadn't found him. A shiver ran up her spine.
Stumbling across his cold lifeless body was something Sakura couldn't muster the stoicism to think about.
Not when her right arm was on fire and it was getting more difficult to stand. She needed to extract the rouge nin's disturbingly potent concoction as quickly as possible.
Sakura had exerted too much chakra healing Sasuke to let her immune system tackle the poison on it's own. She was left with no choice but to do things the old fashioned way.
Sakura got to work pulling a bowl from her pack and poured the last bit of water from her canteen into the chalice. She made a small incision on her lower arm and placed the water over it.
She inhaled steadily and began drawing out the poison, ounce by ounce, painstakingly slow work for the amount of concentration.
The moment she made the poison retract her nerves started firing in her arm, making it hard to control the contortions that rolled through the right side of her body.
Her only saving grace was the steadiness of her left hand and her heart, it was the only thing grounding her.
Sakura grit her teeth, the rain was coming down in droves and she used it to replenish her bowl of water. She shakily stuck it outside to fill up with droplets and then went back to work.
She repeated the process, her arm growing weaker and weaker each time she refilled it.
Sakura exhaled, finally. She could see the poison swirling on the edge of her incision. It was black and void of any color. It reminded her of Sasuke's eyes. They were dark and sucked the light out of everything.
Transfixed she watched the liquid exit her arm and float into the center of her water orb.
Another convulsion ripped through her body Sakura grunted and aggressively threw the blob of poisonous water outside into the rain.
Her right arm went limp at her side. Exhausted and panting the kinouchi lay down on the dusty wooden floor. She thanked the gods she'd only been pricked by a needle. Her reserves were nearly empty but she resisted releasing her seal.
Sakura smirked to herself, what kind of sadist had Tsunade turned her into?
The rain's pitter patter and the loud thrums of Sakura's heartbeat filled up the silence in the shrine.
She lolled her head to the side to check on Sasuke. He was lying still but she could make out the subtle rise and fall of his chest. The blood replenishing pill she gave him had hopefully started to work.
His pale face assaulted her mind, Sakura felt her chest restrict. Thinking about the last time she'd seen him. His warm body next to hers, needy caresses.
Somehow lying on the same dirty floor together, close to death felt more fitting.
Sakura closed her eyes, attempting to shut out the memories. But really she'd just given up fighting off exhaustion. The pull of the unconscious chakra depletion was zapping her will to stay conscious .
Maybe this time they'd finally get to talk when she woke up-
Author's Note
Hey friends! I thought I would just write this quick little idea down about a chance encounter.
Do we like this? Should I keep going?
Let me know when you think!