NEXT CHAPTER
Her eyes darted from tree to tree, trying to locate the rustling sound.
Before she could take another breathe, three glints of metal whizzed straight towards her. Sakura leaned left and the needs bounced off the wall behind her. Within the second another flash came towards her. Sakura lifted her mask off the ground just in time, the sound of the kunai hitting porcelain rang in her ears.
Sakura's heart was starting to beat more erratically. She didn't want to panic but, she was nearly out of chakra and in the most vulnerable position possible.
If there was ever a time she wished Sasuke could materialize it would have been now, but it was too late. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead as her mind moved mountains to form the slight defense plan.
Her eyes zeroed in on the slight twitch of leaves. The hidden ninja descended and hit the ground heavily heading straight towards her for a head on attack.
Sakura noted with a bit of relief he was injured and was from the rogue group she'd been pursuing. They'd all been too young for their own good.
Without a second thought Sakura took a kunai from her pouch and put a flicker of chakra behind her fingers.
The ninja weapon shot off as swift as nightfall, silent and deadly.
The kunai embedded in his neck like the bullseye on a target. The rogue jerked from the momentum of the throw, stumbling backwards. He began clasping his neck, gasping. It didn't take long for his body collapse like a rag doll.
He sputtered some intangible last words and silence overtook the clearing again.
She counted the seconds and felt every last ounce of adrenaline coursing through her pathways. Every hair on Sakura's body was standing up.
She counted further into minutes. She would never let her guard down too early.
Finally after 10 minutes had elapsed. She lowered her arms from a defensive stance and the dead ninja came into view, Sakura swallowed hard.
20 she breathed.
She'd found the twentieth rogue.
She took a shaky breathe. He was so young. She could have hit him in one of his vitals, but what choice did she have. The mission was explicit.
No survivors.
Sakura had been in many other situations like this- alone with the dead body of the ninja she'd just killed, narrowly escaping with her own life. A hot tear trickled down her face. No one came to rescue her anymore and that's what she'd wanted- right? Not even Sasuke.
Sakura pickup up her mask and dislodged the kunai that was stuck in it. She smoothed her fingers over the exterior, her skin catching on the jagged pock mark in the white seamless surface, another thing she would have to fix. She wiped away another tear that had slipped down her cheek.
She chanced another look at the ninja, she couldn't wait for too long. She'd draw unnecessary attention to her location. She needed to at the very least move the lifeless body in case she was ambushed.
She pushed on the rocks for leverage, grunting and straining to get her leg muscles to move. Inch by inch she rose up, but her limbs felt like jello. The caves were slick with perspiration and her hand slid a bit on the wall. The second Sakura reached her full height her hand lost its grip completely.
Sakura let out a little gasp as her body keeled forward. She closed her eyes instinctively, waiting for the impact of hard dirt. But seconds passed and she didn't feel the cold sting of the ground. Instead, she came face forward into a hard warm chest. An arm wrapped around her shoulders, cradling her body against the unknown ninja.
"I told you not to overdue it." the familiar low voice filled her ears.
His scent was all around her, he smelled like a camp fire. Sakura blinked completely taken off guard. They stood like that for a moment. Sakura leaning into him unable to move or breathe. Had he grown taller, she thought mindlessly,
The Uchiha ever so slightly held her a little tighter, before carefully lowering Sakura back on the ground.
Sakura stared blankly at him. Her mouth felt dry, but as she touched back on the floor her brain began working again. "What are you doing here Sasuke?" she asked perplexed.
Sasuke didn't answer her. Instead, he stood up and with a swish of his cape he turned around and began walking over to the rogue. He picked up the body and hoisted it on his shoulder. Without a second glance he disappeared from her view.
This seemed to completely break her trance, "Hey!" Sakura called out a little hoarsely, "Sasuke-" She attempted to stand again grunting with sheer determination.
In the blink of an eye he was back at her side, holding her weight with his arm, "You need to rest Sakura." He said calmly bringing her back down.
Sakura scowled despite herself, "I'm fine, you don't need to help me." She bit out in slight irritation. Her relief had melted away into something a little more fiery.
Tch- the ghost of the word annoying hung in the air, but never left his lips. Sakura knew it was there, unspoken.
Sasuke moved away from her and went back outside. Sakura cursed herself and her low chakra reserves. The irony of Sasuke taking care of her was annoying. He only appeared after she'd done the dirty work and she'd handled it alone, without his help.
"I'll be back." Sasuke deadpanned from outside, breaking Sakura's inner-rant.
Sakura bit her tongue hard to stop herself from calling out anything else. He wasn't going to make anything easy.
Sakura tried to calm down and attempted to get comfortable against the wall. It was cold.
The sounds of the forest were peaceful prior to the recent bloodshed and Sakura felt herself calming down. Despite her best efforts she couldn't help but warm up to the thought that he'd come afterall.
It wasn't long before her eyes dropped shut, and the world went black.
Sakura felt warm. She slowly opened her eyes and was confused to find herself lying down. Something smelled a little musky and she realized she was on a mat probably from the cave. Experimentally moving her arms she found she was wrapped in Sasuke's cloak. It was heavy and for some reason that felt reassuring.
It was almost dark and she had been moved near a fire. Relaxing a bit, she searched around for Sasuke's chakra. Focusing she felt flicker of chakra coming closer. Closing her eyes she decided to enjoy the comfort of the fire and his cloak for a little while longer and feign sleep.
His chakra signature got closer and in a moment it was right in front of her. She felt his presence so close, he must have been inches from her. She then felt the gentlest brush on her face, adjusting her hair behind her ear, just like he always did. Her heart did a somersault.
Sakura tried to even out her breathing but, she couldn't pretend anymore. Opening her eyes she wasn't surprised to find that Sasuke had flash stepped to the other side of the fire.
Emerald met black and the two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity.
I'm back at it, tune in next week! :)