Here's the second part of their big mission. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: An Unwanted Mission (Part 2)

I woke up the next morning by the sunlight piercing through my closed eyelids. I tried to dismiss it as much as I could, but it became unbearable to the point I just decided to get the hell up. After I stretched my arms and body, I glanced to my side with groggy eyes, presumably seeing Kabuto asleep. I was surprised that he was nowhere in the tent. What was also surprising was the fact that none of his blankets were there too, meaning he must've packed all of his stuff early so we could leave right after I had woken up. Well, he could've woken me up himself because that made more sense. Then again, he probably thought that it wouldn't be a smart idea since I would end up just slaughtering him right then and there.

Now that I thought about it, he actually did the right thing.

I got up from my covers and walked out of the tent to see no one in the campsite other than myself. I was getting kind of nervous because I had no clue where Kabuto was and I don't sense his chakra anywhere meaning he was somewhere far away from the site. Where the hell did four eyes go? I was just about to go ahead on finding him myself until I noticed a little bird soaring in the air. I didn't think much of it until I realized it was gliding right towards me which triggered me to pull out a kunai knife for defense. But the bird did nothing but gracefully landed on my shoulder, showing that it came in peace. I noted that and carefully picked up the little guy with my hand and positioned it in front of me. It cocked its head to one side as if it was waiting for me to do something; whatever it was, I had no clue. One moment past when I caught my eyes on the bird's ankle which there was a little bag-like object wrapped around it. I gently removed it from the bird and in a split second it flew from my hand. I moved my attention to the little bag in the palm of my hand and attempted to open it. Inside was a small, folded piece of paper. After a moment of opening the paper without damaging it, I examined what seemed to be a note read what it said.

I didn't want to bother you, so I went out to do a personal errand. I'll meet you here at the site when I'm done.

-Kabuto Yakushi

It made sense but at the same time, it doesn't. It did explained why he was nowhere in the campsite, but what was this "errand" that was so personal he couldn't tell me.

At least I knew where he was and he had the courtesy to tell me. But now that I had nothing assigned to do, I was bored. So bored, I decided I should just pack up the rest of the campsite since we were probably gonna move to a different location at the end of the day. With that in mind, I got started by dismantling the tent, folding the blankets, pillows, and mattress, and other stuff that were left out. It took me a nick of time for the space to be clear as if no one stepped foot in it. I stretched my limbs that were a bit cramped up from all that work. I was rolling my shoulders when I heard leaves rustling behind me. I swiftly spun on my heel to face whatever it was hiding in the bushes. I was ready for it to make its move anytime; I was ready to fight.

Alas, it was just the grey-haired, four-eyed jerk that I knew and couldn't stand who poked his head out of the green bushes.

I wasn't sure if I should feel stupid or exasperated at Kabuto. Apparently, he saw the dumb look on my face and cracked a chuckle from his lips.

"Why so tense all of a sudden?" He mocked smugly, throwing his signature grin at my way.

I tsked in annoyance. "Why the hell were you hiding in the bushes?" I shot a question back at him.

"You have intermediate skills on sensing chakra; I thought you knew it was me." He implied as he raised his shoulders, pointing out that it wasn't it fault.

"That doesn't mean I should let my guard down just because it was my 'partner'. There are a few of those who excel well in Transformation Jutsu and deceiving their enemy by pretending to be their ally." I briefly specified as I folded my arms and turned away, not wanting to look at him.

"You're just being paranoid, but I guess I'll take your word for it." He sighed in defeat; he probably didn't want to tick me off this early in the morning.

I was kind of baffled. For once, four eyes had the final word; I always got the last word and won. In this case, he didn't exactly won but he actually got me speechless for once. It situations like this, I would just say random stuff until he doesn't catch up to the meaning behind my words. Mostly it was because there was no meaning. But just like that, he ended the conversation by just dropping the topic in front of me.

He probably just fell and hit his head pretty hard, I thought.

"What was this errand you had to accomplish so early anyway… without tell me…" I questioned solidly, wanting an honest answer from him.

The one thing I hated more than that bastard of a brother, Itachi Uchiha, was liars. I hated them with a burning passion and every time someone lied to me, I dread to slit their throat.

"I woke up very early and decided to go ahead and search for more of the herbs Lord Orochimaru needed. You looked like you needed rest and it would've been rude of me to wake you up for something you never wanted to do in the first place." He answered emotionlessly, seemingly telling the truth.

I wasn't sure what to say; it didn't look like he was lying and he was showing some sympathy towards me. I of all people. How should I respond to it? What should I say?

"Uh, thanks I guess." I replied unsurely; it was literally the only thing I came with randomly.

Luckily, Kabuto didn't see this as he gladly nodded at my thanks then he walked over to the clearing examining his surroundings.

"The clearing we've chosen looks slightly difference, I see." He commented straight-forwardly, referring to the fact that the campsite no longer looked like a campsite.

As he was taking in the vast space we were standing in, I blanked out with resulted in me having the sudden urge to say something to Kabuto but didn't know how to.

"For the record, I wouldn't really minded if you woke me up at dawn." I blurted out unexpectedly, causing me to clamp my hand on my mouth.

Kabuto slowly rotated his head and stared blankly at me over his shoulder. He then turned his whole body until it was facing at my direction. I could already feel the heat of my cheeks rising and turning pink in embarrassment. I prayed he didn't see that.

Then I heard him chuckle at my reaction. "Well, would you look at that? Katsumi is being nice to me for the first time." He mused jokingly.

Kabuto fricking Yakushi thought it was so funny; it didn't sit to well with me.

"I honestly don't see how you find that funny." I comment bluntly as I folded my arms. "And I'm never harsh to you. Your twisted mind and words are too provoking for me to simply brush off."

"But that's the fun of it. Provoking you is sort of entertaining…" He smirked in response.

I blinked at his reply; I wasn't certain if I should say anything because I was concerned his answer would end up with me getting the chills.

"Well, since all of our camp stuff is packed up, we can go ahead and search for the remaining ingredients." Kabuto recommended blandly, walking in my direction.

I stood there frozen as said male treaded past me without batting an eye. I shifted my head as I looked over my shoulder at the back of four eyes' back. I was confused about the whole situation; his attitude towards me seemed a bit different ever since he got offended about the stuff I said about him that he claimed weren't "true". I didn't feel completely guilty because I wasn't expecting him to be defensive about it. Was his feelings hurt? I doubt it because I had said worst things to him before and he would give me his stupid smirk and throw a dis back at me. Was he kind of offended the least? Probably, since I was judging when I don't know him personal— mostly because I'd rather peel own skin than get to know him.

It wasn't until now that I realized that I was standing there staring at nothing now like a complete freak. I had to catch up to Kabuto or else I would be lost in the thick forest. I speed-walked through the bushes, hurrying myself in the same direction he went. Luckily, he didn't go too far and I caught up to him in a nick of time. We proceeded in the search for rare herbs in silence; it wasn't that awkward but it made me uncomfortable regardless. I snuck a few glances at four eyes, who paid no attention to me whatsoever; he was simply examining the field, trying to locate a specific herb of plant.

As I went back to find this plant myself, I couldn't stop thinking about the effort Kabuto was putting in. He always looked like he was putting in a hundred and ten percent of work into this mission for a snake who I highly doubted that appreciated him. I might be reading between the lines, but Orochimaru was using Kabuto as his little lapdog and ordering him around to do stuff for him for his own benefit. Also, what was more upsetting was the fact that Kabuto doesn't seem to mind the snake using him as a pawn and nothing else for three or four years— the number of years might be off because I discovered this when Sasuke and I arrived at one of Orochimaru's lairs. I always wondered why four eyes would put himself through all the sweat, blood, and hate from others just for "Lord Orochimaru".

As much as I hated to say it, I felt sort of bad for him.

Then again, it was his own damn fault for not giving Orochimaru the finger and leaving him out to dry for all the crap he made him went through.

As I zoned out, I noticed something peculiar in the patch I was searching in. I pushed through the plants with my hand to get a better look at it and gasped to see it was the herb we were currently looking for. I carefully took a bouquet of it and sat comfortably on the soft earth, feeling proud of myself.

"Look what I've found." I singed proudly as I smiled gloatingly, grabbing Kabuto's attention.

"Good work, partner. Never expected you to find it that quickly." He replied in a seemingly sarcastic tone.

I narrowed my eyes on his comment. "You may be four-eyed, but my sight is way quicker than yours."

Kabuto stretched his smirk, and held out his hand. "May I take that bouquet off your hands? We don't want anything to happen to it since it's extremely rare." He asked deviously.

I rolled my eyes. "I know that already, I'm not stupid." I huffed and reluctantly handed the herbs to him.

I watched him as he put the herbs in a small jar and placed it safely in his bag. After buckling it, he stood up as he exhaled tiredly as I remained sitting on my knees.

"So, what's next on the list?" I casually asked, looking up at him blankly as he towered over me.

"Actually… I was thinking we should take a break." He suggested as he gazed down at me.

I furrowed my eyebrows on his suggestion. "You're kidding right?" I scoffed as I lifted myself off the ground. "We don't have time to take a break, Kabuto. We still have more herbs to find and they're not easy to find either."

"I'm aware of that. That's why we should take a break so we have enough energy to look for them." He justified smugly, modifying the position of his glasses.

I rolled my eyes in defeat. It wouldn't hurt to take a break, I guess. Besides, searching high and low for rare plants was harder than it sounded.

"Fine then, let's take a break." I sighed in exhausted.

I saw a mischievous smirk on his face, which was new to me. Normally he would just give me his signature smirk to annoy me, but this one was different than before. It was as if he was planning something that I don't know of. What was he up to?

I heard his footsteps coming towards me and noticed that he was walking to where I was standing, then past me.

"Where are you going, four eyes?" I questioned curiously, cupping my hands on my hips.

Kabuto glanced at me over his shoulder and grinned, "Follow me and you'll find out."

He rotated his head and proceeded in walking to his desired destination, leaving me standing there blankly. The fact he didn't even budge me to follow him meaning he gave me the option to follow him or not. Normally I wouldn't and just continue finding more medical ingredients, but the temptation was such a bother. What was four eyes hiding that was so "big" he wouldn't tell me unless I followed him?

Damn that four-eyed loser.

I quickly marched in the same route Kabuto did; I didn't want to waste any more time than I already had deciding if I should go with him or else I would lose sight of him. Unfortunately, my fear came true. I couldn't find that damn nerd anywhere in my thick green environment.

At this point it was time for Plan B: Sensory Ninjutsu. I wouldn't say I was experienced with this specific technique nor I was excellent at it like Karin was, one of Orochimaru's subordinates. Despite this, I knew some Sensory Ninjutsu that were decent; not as strong and precise as Karin. I closed my eyes as I made a tiger-seal with both hands as I focused the flow of my chakra. I was only focusing on my chakra, trying to expand my surrounding until I located a chakra wielder somewhere near where I was standing. Due to lack of accuracy, it took me a while for me to find a shinobi somewhere in the forest. Whoever it was, they were about half a mile away from where I was standing. Without wasting another second, I ran towards that pool of chakra I sensed. I ran through the thick bushes and swerved skillfully past the dense trees, running as fast as I could without chakra before that ninja started making a move.

I urgently halted my feet and stood there confused and tired. I wasn't sure why my sensing skills led me to a clearing approximately in the heart of the forest. As I stood just before the entrance to this clearing, the bright intense light stabbed my eyes, causing me to squint them for protection. Was I the one who mistakenly went in the wrong direction? Or was there someone around here messing with my mind with genjutsu? Unless this "genjutsu" the enemy activated was very powerful, like the Tsukuyomi, I could've easily detected it and broke it like it was nothing. So I might've taken the wrong turn then? I then sensed the same chakra from before and it was somewhere in the bright clearing.

I prepared myself for whatever I would face and walked into the light. I made a little shade for my eyes with my hand so I could see through this light. I couldn't believe my eyes when the light from above finally dimmed enough for me to see the area, which was breath-taking. There was a massive green field full of different brightly-coloured flowers. The brilliant blue sky was cloudless as the bright warm sun shone proudly down on the field, making the flowers sparkle a little. I slid my feet through the vast space, taking in the beautiful environment I dreamed of living in. I was in complete awe; it was simply overwhelming. As I wandered peacefully through this big meadow, I realized that I was standing on a hill somewhat by looking down at a crystal blue lake beneath me. I also noticed that there was a human standing by the lake, doing whatever they were doing. I focused my eyesight to see if I could determine said person. I gasped in shock; I might know who this person was. I quickly made my way down the hill to where the big lake was, specifically where this stranger stood.

I shouldn't have said stranger because as I got closer, I knew exactly who this was.

Said person took into account that someone was coming towards him and he glanced at me as he gave me his overused smirk.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up." Kabuto snickered playfully, placing his hands on his hips.

I frowned on his comment. "Well, I would've earlier if you weren't being annoying and just told me where you were going." I grumbled under my breath.

"But that would've ruined the surprise." He pouted mockingly.

Surprise? Did he meant this "surprise" for me?

"So, let me get this straight." I started hardly, holding my hand up to him so I could speak without interruptions. "You wanted to take a break from our mission and lured me into this big, beautiful meadow as a 'surprise' for me?" I hypothesized slowly, trying to comprehend his actions.

"Pretty much." He shrugged dismissively, not making it seem like it was a big deal.

That was weird; his attitude changed in front of my eyes.

"Why?" I inquired solidly.

"Well, to be truthful…" He sighed admittedly. "There isn't really a reason. Maybe it's because I'm aware that you never wanted to go on this mission with me, and you deserved some sort of treat for assisting me and putting your feelings towards me behind you just for this mission. Or maybe it's the fact that it's been years since you stepped foot out of the woods and see something as amazing as this place, so I thought you deserved some feeling of freedom."

I stood there in slight disbelief. Either he was showing me that he was genuinely grateful for accompanying him despite it was by force or the fact he felt that it wasn't fair for me living in the depths of darkness serving a snake that I wished I could execute on my birthday. It was astonishing since those two possibilities required compassion and sympathy, and those were the two elements he had no clue of. At least I thought until he dropped this bomb at me.

The thought of that made me chuckle. "It's funny, really." I scoffed as furrowed my eyebrows. "I wouldn't have never pegged you as someone who cares about others, never mind their misfortunes."

He gave me a sarcastic laugh. "Oh, don't think you mean all that much to me, Katsumi. I simply lured you here because I know how much you loved flowery meadows."

How the hell did he knew that anyway? I never mentioned this to him in a conversation, and I barely converse with him since he annoyed my soul.

"I don't recall ever talking to you about what I like and dislike." I stated positively.

"That's because I didn't get this info from you." He validated certainly. "During the chunin exams, I asked Naruto if you were always this stubborn, harsh, and sarcastic to everyone since you were always like that with me. His response was defensive, in my opinion; despite him being older than you, he looked up to you as a big sister and claimed that you were a kind-hearted person who went through a lot in the past. He noted to me that you had trouble trusting others because you had experienced abandonment by others and flowers were one of the things that helped you cope through that because of their meaning behind their colour petals."

I was reading between the lines, not caring about Kabuto's reason; I never would've thought that hyperactive, knuckle-headed blonde saw me as his older sister. It was true that I was the first person to break the bystander effect and befriend the blonde when he went through a hard time during his childhood; I never hated the boy like everyone else did nor I saw him as a monster, I saw a little kid who just wanted a friend there by his side and I immediately held my hand out to him. I knew I was a special part in his life and he cherished me in his heart, but seeing me as a sister? I tried to hold back a sob so four eyes wouldn't see a thing wrong with me. Fleeing the Leaf and turning my back on Naruto tore me up inside because our friendship meant a lot to me, and I just threw it all away. But now that Kabuto— out of everyone – told me that I was a sister to him, it made feel a burning sensation in my chest; it made me feel overwhelmed.

Looking back, did I made the right decision: leaving my birth village and abandoning all of my friends, losing everything that was dear to me for Sasuke?

I also wondered if Naruto hated me for what I had done. Would he still forgive me after all those years?

With all these thoughts running through my head, I had no clue that there were tears running down my lightly tanned cheeks. Unfortunately, Kabuto realized this and his eyes slightly widened in question.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He asked curiously, walking over to me for me aid I assumed.

I immediately pushed him away with one arm as I avoided eye contact; I didn't want him nor his business around me as I tried to hide my sorrow.

"Stay away from me! Just leave me alone!" I spat as I looked away, hiding my face until my tears dried up.

Kabuto gather himself together after that push I gave him and moved himself closer towards me cautiously this time.

"Look, I wasn't trying to—"

"It's not YOU!" I shot venomously, possibly making him nervous.

I rotated my head until I was facing him completely as small streams of tears fell. I saw the confusion and a glint of concern in his eyes.

"Why I'm upset has nothing to do with you!" I repeated in distress. "It's the fact that I lost everything that was dear to me; everything I've searched long and hard for. I turned my back on my village to join Orochimaru against my will, I abandoned all of my friends for Sasuke all because of revenge. Everything that meant so much to me is gone because I threw it all away."

As I ranted all of my feelings out, Kabuto stood there frozen as he listened and seemingly tried to understand how I felt.

"My blood family never cared for me because I was a nuisance and a nothing but a pest. So much that my own family tried to kill me. Not only that, Itachi who was a father to me, slaughtered everyone in our clan and attempted to kill me for his personal gain. I thought I was never loved, I was stuck in a pit full of pain, sorrow, and hatred; it's scary, that place. That is until I was put into Squad 7; it took a while, but I had grown to love them greatly as a family of my own. They pulled me out of that pit of darkness, saving me from myself from self-harming, they welcomed me with open arms. They were my family and I miss them as days go by." I continued aguishly as my body trembled in agony.

"But now, I threw that all away. I feel like I'm back in that pit. As much as I love Sasuke, his hunger for revenge is so strong he pulled me back into severe depression and doesn't even realize it. Regardless of the fact that Sasuke no longer care for Squad 7, they're still the only bright spot in my life and always will be." I breathed hastily, trying to calm myself down.

I wasn't entirely sure if Kabuto was worried or even concerned the slightest about me in my current state since he hadn't spoken a single word since I started tearing up.

"I'm all alone again. Orochimaru only cares about himself and his forbidden jutsu, you're too busy assisting him and serving him like a good lapdog, and Sasuke's only attention is his training and killing Itachi. I have no one." I whimpered softly, wiping off any remaining tears left on my face.

A moment later, I felt a pair of strong arms gently wrapping around me, pulling me against a strong chest. I was taken aback, but I stayed still as my trembling calmed down a bit. I didn't have to look up to see who dared to touch me without permission because there was only one person who would cross the line one too many times.

I had never thought in a million years that Kabuto would ever touch me in a comforting way, never mind hug me.

"K-Kabuto…" I stuttered bewilderedly. "W-Why are you—"

"Just let it slide for once, princess." He cut in nonchalantly. "I know you think you don't need me, but you do. You're hurting because of the guilt eating you up inside."

I was astonished by his defense. Not because he was probably lying about it, but because he didn't say it in a sarcastic way possible. He was actually concerned.

But why though.

I wanted his hands off me because the long amount of time hugging me was getting kind of awkward, but since I had so much emotion and anxiety built in my chest which was growing rapidly, my breathing started to quicken and I tried my very hardest to control my chakra and treat the problem before Kabuto noticed.

If it worked or not, I wouldn't know because everything went black after that moment.

My eyelids slightly lifted as my eyes peaked through them only to see a dark surface above me. Confused, I blinked until my eyes were almost wide open. I shifted my head downward to see a blanket hugging me completely as I laid on a comfortable mat with a soft pillow where my head was rested. I sat myself up and glanced at my new yet familiar surroundings, realizing that I was in the same tent me and Kabuto slept in last night.

How long was I sleeping for?

I gazed up at the tent window above my head to see the stars shining bright like jewels. Internally, I was baffled that I slept for that many hours whereas I sat there slightly groggy and curious. Then I remembered something: I don't recall being tired before I was unconscious. My hunch was that I was knocked out by a certain someone.

Damn that jerk, I knew there was a sneaky reason for hugging me when I was down.

I removed the blanket from my body and got up as I slowly walked towards the tent door. I unzipped it and popped my head out to examine the area. The campfire was the first thing that caught my attention then a certain male who sat near the golden flames, taking in the comforting heat, he wore the same night clothes like last night but he wasn't wearing his glasses this time. If I remembered correctly, I thought Kabuto looked better without his glasses because it took away the nerdy and psychopathic look.

"You're finally awake, I see." His calm voice made me wince, didn't notice that he saw me in the first place.

"Yeah, I am." I replied blankly, wasn't sure what else to say.

"Come and sit. You must be hungry after being unconscious for hours." He mused mockingly, waving me to sit.

Narrowing my eyes, I cautiously treaded towards him as his smile was still plastered on his face. He handed me a plate full of food similar to last night. I took it off his hands and sat across from him where the fire burned between the both of us. As I ate my food, I snuck a couple of glances at Kabuto who was probably reading or writing on a scroll. The thought of him comforting me when I was at my lowest didn't sit right for me. I wasn't referring to his manipulative behaviour, but the fact his thought wasn't about him nor Orochimaru.

What game was he playing?

"You should talk to him." I heard said person's voice in a suggesting matter.

I flinched slightly at his comment. "Who are you referring to? And tell him what?" I asked him in confusion.

"I'm 'referring' to Sasuke." He answered as he gazed up from the scroll he was reading. "And you should tell him what you told me earlier; he should know your take on it with this whole revenge thing."

I sat there dumbfounded; I didn't know what was crazier: Four eyes giving me advice or his actual advice. I was aware that Kabuto hadn't spoken to Sasuke mostly because Sasuke doesn't like him and he doesn't like talking to him. But everyone knew that you don't have to talk to Sasuke to know that he wasn't the most considerate person. It was literally his way or no way.

"I can't talk to Sasuke without him being so stubborn and narrow-minded, and you know that as much as I do." I rebutted as I shook my head, seeing no possibility.

"He shouldn't be stubborn and narrow-minded towards his sister just because she doesn't really share the same ambitions in life as he does. He has to understand that he can't control you like a puppet." He frowned, not liking what I said.

"Oh, kind of like how Orochimaru is controlling you?" I shot back at him, surprised that he was being hypocritical. "At least Sasuke lets me have my freedom and dignity unlike your 'Lord' who just uses you and you follow him like a good little lapdog."

Kabuto flinched at my comment; he looked like he was stunned that I actually went ahead and said it like it was nothing. He narrowed his eyes as he threw an unpleasant glare directly at me; he seemed very offended.

"You're in no position to accuse me for being loyal to Lord Orochimaru when you know nothing." He sneered exasperatedly as he adjusted his glasses.

I scoffed at his remark. "It doesn't take a genius to know that you're simply a weak, hopeless, wimp who kisses one of the legendary sanin's ass to have some sort of honor under your name."

"Some big words from a futile, useless Uchiha." He seethed venomously.

I could literally hear his anger increase by the tone of his voice. I couldn't help but have fun with it.

"Oh, poor little Kabuto got his feelings hurt." I mocked in a sarcastic voice. "It's not my fault that you have no life whatsoever and that you're so in love with Orochimaru."

I didn't notice his hands clenching into fists and his gritted teeth; I wasn't aware that I was genuinely pushing his buttons.

"That's all you have in life, a crush your 'precious' Lord. But the fact of the matter is that you're nothing in life but Orochimaru's b—"

I was immediately interrupted by a kunai thrown less than an inch from my face away, resulting me to freeze in shock. I heard the kunai hit a tree truck behind me half a second later as I remained there frozen; I was trying to process what just happened. A moment later passed when I felt a stingy pain on my cheek as I felt warm liquid running down my skin close to where the pain was.

"You know, you're such a nuisance and a spoiled little brat. You think you know every single thing about everyone. You and your brother are both the same: stuck-up, know-it-all, stubborn, emotional idiots that deserves to be punished. I shouldn't have saved you from Orochimaru when he was about to attack you; you deserve to beg for mercy and for your life." He hissed lividly, lifting himself onto his feet as he glared down at me coldly.

I said nothing as I lifted my hand and placed it softly where the pain laid on my cheek. I removed my hand and gazed at the liquid that now covered my fingertips. It was my blood I was staring at, meaning I have a deep cut on my cheek since it came with a bit of pain.

"You know nothing about me, you good-for-nothing princess. You're not the only person in the world who went through a lot since childhood; you have no idea what I've been through. So stop making people feel sorry about you because they have their own problems to deal with." He grumbled lowly as he continued to glare at me.

For no apparent reason, my body started to shiver at Kabuto's newly cold demeanor. He was annoying, obnoxious and even harsh at the most before, but right now, he was straight-up cold. It was because of that, it made me shake anxiously and I don't know why it does.

Said person snapped out of his enraged trance and saw my body shiver as I stared up at him blankly as if I was hypnotised. For a moment, he did nothing but watch me in confusion. Probably because he didn't really know what he said to me or he just wasn't thinking straight when he said what he said to me. Kabuto slowly made his way towards me and kneeled in front of me as he took a close look at me, specifically at my cut he inflicted on me. I wasn't sure what was going through his mind because he was furious just a minute ago and he snapped out when he saw me on the ground stunned at what I had just saw of him.

Kabuto then raised his hand and cupped my injured cheek which made me jump a bit; I was never comfortable of people touching me in an affectionate way since I had a problem of trusting people.

"Calm down." He soothed. "I never meant to hurt you."

After he assured me that he wasn't going to hurt me, I felt his warm chakra on my cheek as I could feel the cut diminishing; he was healing my wound he caused. It was flabbergasting that he went from angry to caring real quickly; what was with the change in attitude beats the heck out of me.

"The wound is almost gone." He pointed out, his focus remained solely on my cut.

Kabuto repaired my wounded tissue a moment after he remarked that my wound was almost healed and he dismissed his healing chakra. But for some reason, his hand still held my cheek but in a more comforting matter. Normally, I would slap his hand from my face and threaten his life for touching me but this was different this time. I mean, he wasn't being a jerk or a weirdo this time; he was touching me as if he cared about me. Was it because he felt bad for giving me that cut when he never intentionally tried to hurt me? Maybe so, but I highly doubt it because he would've just apologized and leave it be. However he wasn't apologizing; he wasn't saying anything at all. All he was doing was holding my cheek as he gazed softly at me; it kind of looked like he mentally wasn't here in the real world right now.

Then, out of nowhere, he started to softly caress my cheek. His gentle touch sent shivers down my spine but I didn't let it show because no doubt Kabuto would sense that. He was making this more awkward than it should've been and I was counting the seconds until he just stopped. But secretly, I don't want it to stop. Four eyes might be a jerk and a nerd, but his touch was so chilling yet so wanting. Just his small touch on my check made me crave to know how his touch would feel all over my body. The need for his touch was crazy, I felt like I was simply losing it. I lifted my hand and softly gripped his hand— that was still stuck on my cheek – gently pressing it down on my tanned skin to feel the depths of his touch. I then slid my hand against his soft hand and slowly slipped my fingers between the spaces of his until they filled the spaces, resulting in me touching my own skin. I was surprised when he gave my fingers a soft squeeze and petted my cheek with his thumb.

Was he feeling the same way as I was?

It felt like it had been years, but Kabuto finally removed his hand from my face causing me to drop my hand since it was holding his. It kind of sucked to be honest; I couldn't help but feel disappointed. He then got up and gazed down at me as his body towered over me.

"We should probably go to bed now. It's getting late and we have to be prepared for tomorrow." He remarked in a dull tone.

"Uh, yeah sure." I stuttered unsurely; I wasn't really there when he spoke so I felt kind of gone.

He nodded at my judgement. "I'll put out the fire, you'll wash all the dirty dishes near that lake." He ordered calmly, taking charge of the situation.

Without saying another word, I blankly watched him as he started to do what he said he was gonna do. I didn't realize that my body overcame my mind and went over to pick up all the dirty dishes and slid my feet towards the lake. I scrubbed the food remnants off each plate until they were sparkly clean. I never thought washing all the plates would take this long; I never took into consideration as to how many plates we used. I also never considered how tired and sleepy I was until my body started to sway back and forth. I knew I had to keep by balance because I was near the surface of the lake and if I wasn't careful, I would fall right in. Unfortunately, I had no energy to keep myself up and felt myself falling forward as I was beginning to lose consciousness. Just before my body fell into the clear lake, I felt a pair of strong arms around me preventing me from falling any forward. My head was inches away from the water and I could only realize just remotely what was going on. Whoever had their grip on me, they carefully moved me away from the water surface and held me bridal style on the ground. With my groggy, blurry eyesight, I looked up and attempted to see the expression on Kabuto's face but failed because I was just so tired.

"You always seem to make everything more difficult when it shouldn't be." He huffed irritably, looking at my half-asleep face. "I shouldn't be always there to help you, you know."

"I-I never… asked for your help… bastard…" I mumbled exhaustedly, trying to stay awake as I spoke.

He sighed as he shook his head. "Leave it to you to be defensive even when you're half-asleep…"

Kabuto then carefully got up to his feet as he still held me bridal style and walked over to our tent. Since I was so tired and had no energy to move on my own, I had no choice but to allow him to carry me towards the tent. I laid my head comfortably on his toned chest where his heart was beating at a comforting pace, resulting me to snuggle against him. He tightened his grip as I did so as he carefully walked into the tent. He placed me on my sleeping mat then pulled a blanket up to my chin. He then sat there cross-legged, probably until I fell asleep.

He was the last thing I saw until I surrendered to my tiredness.

Hope you liked the chapter guys. Bye!