Chapter 16

Sakura slept for two days.

Two days, Naruto took care of her. He brought her the strange broth Sasuke created. He tried his best to control her tangled hair, but the fine strands seemed drawn to one another and just as unmanageable as a spider's web. No wonder she always carried a hairbrush with her.

Sitting upright with a start, Sakura woke early in the morning to the sound of talking. She felt…refreshed. The soreness from mitotic regeneration had vanished under rest, and her feet felt smooth as she rubbed them together. She couldn't say the same about her legs, however–but that was a task for another day and warmer weather.

Sakura hadn't felt this light and airy in a long while. Stretching, the woman looked around her, finding Naruto quickly. "Hey there, stranger."

The man was hiding behind a rather large blanket, unsure how Sakura would react upon waking up. He'd been at the receiving end of her accidental aggressions one too many times.

"How long?" Sakura asked, already rising, looking for her bag.

"Two," Naruto responds, pointing her in the right direction.

"Two what?" Mindful of hygiene, the woman shuffled through her tote. She began with separating bathing supplies–a vial of rice water and dehydrated soap thins. The towel she kept was her oldest and most threadbare, so it folded down into a tight little cylinder. She grabbed her toothbrush.

"Days."

She nodded. "My comb?"

Naruto jumps, fumbling around until he finds the handle tucked under one of the many blankets on the floor.

"I uh…I tried to help."

Sakura ran her fingers through her greasy locks. They caught on several tangles. "I don't remember going to the bathroom?"

"Well, I didn't help with that. You woke up and I showed you the way."

Searching deeper into her bag, she found a small tin with various medications. Thumbing through them, she offered a handful to her friend. "Need any?"

"What are they?"

"This one is a multivitamin." She showed him the oblong, green pill. The sound of her voice had altered the others to her awakening. Sasuke enters, dressed in his dark winter gear. Sakura does not pause. "These three are a little extra–-B12, vitamin D, and Iron."

Naruto nodded to Sasuke in greeting, and then accepted Sakura's offerings. She pulls out more supplements, tossing them around in her palm. "Have you all been eating right? I have food rations."

Sasuke looked down at her, noticing that she had yet to regard him. Naruto kept his hand outstretched, accepting the tablets as Sasuke came up to his side.

Sakura twisted her hair into a stylish updo, making quick work of the wild strands that seemed to have a mind of their own. She finally faced the last remaining item in its container—a tiny, heart-shaped pill no bigger than her pinky nail. With a mischievous grin, Naruto swooped in and popped it into his mouth before she could even say "don't!"

With a gasp, Sakura lunged forward, grabbing the edges of his lips with her fingers. "I didn't tell you to take that one!"

Naruto blinked, his mouth full. "Ish thish bwrd?"

"Bad for me," she muttered, her frustration mounting as she released him.

"What was it?" he demanded, eyes wide with panic. "Do I need to throw it up? Help! I'm scared!"

Sasuke stood off to the side, watching the chaos unfold. He initially eyed Sakura, concerned she might wobble from being out for so long. Instead, she stood firmly, shifting her weight while giving Naruto a look that could curdle milk.

"Naruto," she sighed, crossing her arms. "I guess it's my fault. I should have watched you closer."

"Sakura, I'm freaking out!" he wailed, pacing like a caged animal.

She rolled her eyes, clearly exasperated. "It's—" Shifting again, she shot a quick glance at Sasuke, who was suddenly the picture of calm amidst the storm. It was the first time she really took him in, and she couldn't help but notice he looked well-rested, though perhaps a tad skinnier than she remembered.

Sasuke, still expressionless, finally broke the tension. "It's birth control."

Sakura's eyes widened, and the small hairs on the back of her neck stood up like they were auditioning for a horror movie. Her mouth opened to respond, but Naruto's screech cut her off.

"I'm pregnant?!"

Sakura stared at him, incredulous. "You can't be! You're not even a girl!"

Sasuke let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Honestly, Naruto, if you were pregnant, I'd be more worried about how you'd manage the cravings for ramen."

Sakura has to try her hardest not to smack her best friend. If she were a few years younger, she might have. "If anything, you're closer to not being pregnant than you were before!"

"Okay, okay," the ninja breathed through his nose. "So does this mean I can't get Hinata pregnant?"

"SHE'S ALREADY PREGNANT. She can't get double pregnant–" Sakura paused, thinking of the rare medical diagnoses that have disproved that fact. Still, those anomalies certainly had nothing to do with birth-control. "

"You know what? Nope. I'm not doing this right now," Sakura declared, crossing her arms with an attitude that could cut glass. "Take your concerns to Sasuke; he seems knowledgeable enough for your little freak-out. I'm going to use the hot spring I made and clean up before I meet with the nomads."

As she gathered her things, she shot a quick glance at Sasuke over her shoulder, her expression a mix of defiance and determination. "And trust me, I will be doing that."

With a huff, she turned on her heel, leaving Naruto wide-eyed and speechless, while Sasuke just raised an eyebrow, clearly amused by the whole spectacle.

It was still relatively early in the morning. If Sasuke had a choice, he'd prefer to leave at daybreak, but he wanted Sakura to wake naturally. With Sakura no longer in his tent, it gave him the opportunity to clear it out and seal it away.

The task was not quiet.

"Thanks for talking me down." Naruto said to him as he shook out bedding. "Do you think Sakura will be pissed off at me for too long?"

Sasuke workst on the canvas threads that hold fast to the tents poles. "I don't know."

"She doesn't even have a boyfriend or anything. Why would she need birth control?"

Exhaling loudly, Sasuke yanked on the strings and snapped a few. Having two hands came in handy when it came to knots. "I don't know."

"How did you know what it was? Does Karin take it or something?"

Shooting his friend a sharp look, Sasuke bites out, "How is that any of my business?"

Naruto tucked the ends of the blankets into itself, making a tidy square. Hinata had taught him that little trick. "Well, aren't you eager to "restore your clan" or whatever you said when we were kids? I thought you'd have started as soon as you got out of jail."

"Restore our name, not our numbers." Sasuke glowered at his friend. Did he really seem the type to pump a child into just anyone? "I couldn't give less of a shit about children."

"Oh…oh, man. I'm sorry. I didn't know that. Why?"

"Naruto."

Why? Wasn't it obvious? Hadn't the Uchiha clan caused enough damage and destruction to the ninja world? Sasuke couldn't think of anything worse than having a child. Siblings, pawning for each other's eyes–or better yet, his. Another Cursed?

"So is that how you knew what it was? Because you don't want kids?"

Running his hand through his hair, Sasuke tried to keep his frustration down. Naruto didn't deserve it. Though it was not Sasuke's job to teach the man, he felt the burden should fall on someone close to the blond, at the very least. Kakashi had probably just given him a copy of that perverted book he loved to read and let Naruto figure things out from there.

"My mother used to take them," he said softly. "Itachi and I thought she was dying because she hid her special medication. She told us she didn't want any more kids, that it kept her from having them."

The conversation she had with Itachi was far more profound than what she shared with Sasuke. All he knew was that it was a secret, one that would upset their father if he ever found out. Having felt the sting of that anger himself, Sasuke had sworn to protect her from it, no matter the cost.

Did his mother weep when she found out Sasuke was another boy? Did she fear what her children would do to one another? Itachi was always better, always stronger. Was that why she spent so much more time with Sasuke than with Itachi? Did she think Itachi would one day be the end of him, leaving Sasuke as nothing but a fading memory in her heart?

"I don't think Hinata takes them. She started taking vitamins now, though."

Sasuke nods. "Pregnant women need extra nutrients."

Suigetsu made his way to the group with his own travel gear strapped up. Both he and Jugo had been sternly told not to even glance in the direction of the hot-spring. There were a few billows of snow starting to fill in the landscape, but anything near would melt quickly. There wasn't anything to hide Sakura except for the water.

Considering she was the one who created that fissure, Suigetsu certainly didn't want her to even think he was looking at her.

"What's going on over here? Sex-ed?"

Coming around the corner of the half-up tent, Karin threw her supplies over her shoulder and eyed the men with a questioning look. "What would you know about sex enough to give out any kind of education on it?"

"Sorry, should we get a professional? Because Sakura is bathing right now."

Karin scoffed. "I'm certain I know more than she does. Ask away."

Naruto does, without hesitation. "Why does Hinata curl up all of the time? And she grabs me and squeezes my shoulders and–"

Redness flooded through Karin's face and Sasuke shook his head. "W-What do you mean all of the time?"

"Like, every time we—ya know. Multiple times, actually. Does it hurt? She says I'm not hurting her. Kurama keeps warning me that he's gonna step in sometime but if I'm hurting her I don't know what he'll do!"

"Naruto," Sasuke warned. "Keep Kurama out of it. You two," he looked between Suigetsu and Karin. "Go help Jugo. We're going to leave as soon as Sakura's done with those village people."

"Yes, sir," They say, walking off without bothering to hide their snickers, leaving Sasuke to explain some of Naruto's…predicaments.

If Sakura was angry with Sasuke before, she was fuming now. By the time she came back to the camp, all that was left was a dying fire. She didn't need much privacy, having detangled her hair in the water, but she at least expected a moment of reprieve. Though dressing out in the frigid temperatures was a challenge, especially when she felt like she was being watched. She threw Sasuke's large cloak on first and pulled everything beneath it.

Wet hair hiding under the furred hood, Sakura approached Naruto with a bundle nestled in her arms. "Where did you put my bag?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Uh…I think Sasuke–"

Pushing her items against Naruto's chest, the woman twisted around and started walking. "Please, just throw those in there. Since we're in such a rush to leave, I guess I'll be going."

"Wha–? Sakura, just wait a second so someone can go over there with you!"

"No thanks. I don't need a babysitter." She said, but she doesn't get very far.

Up over the ridge, a slow-moving group made their trek. Eager to meet them at least half-way, Sakura bounded into a slow jog. She balanced on top of the fine crust of frost, ignoring the others as they followed behind dutifully.

An entourage of about 15 waited for the ninja by the edge of the water. They eyed everything with trepidation and awe. Some were on their hands and knees, feeling the warmth that seeped up from the ground.

They did not send out only men, this time. There were women–some holding babies in intricate weaves, some with toddlers on their hips.

The closer Sakura got, the more dropped. Watching curiously, Sakura saw their lips pressed against the ground and their palms turned, facing upwards.

Worship. But for whom?

"Sakura?" Naruto asked, coming to a halt beside her.

Trying her best to communicate, Sakura asked, "Kind people, what is your action?"

"You have saved us." One person proclaimed. "You have brought back our holy water."

Sakura tried her best to relay back-and-forth—their stories and thoughts on what the ancient chakra was, what they believed had happened.

They used to treat the carved, stone tree like a temple. The nomads had been a bustling civilization once, thriving with homes made of ice and with warriors who hunted the beasts of a now frozen sea.

Sakura explained that their numbers began to dwindle after the stories told of a fallen star. How their energies changed, how they shriveled away. A special root had fended off the worst of the ailments, and they prayed to the Gods to cease their punishment. They hid in the darkness of the ice pillars, away from the wrath of the fallen star.

From the root grew a special flower, even when the sun did not shine. Its petals saved the tribe, fending off sadness and madness as the years stretched on. But as layer after layer of cold and permafrost persisted, the heat from the earth below could not produce the conditions for their flower to grow.

Sakura spoke in their strange tongue, bowing repeatedly. There were times when her words did not reach them, and others where their eyes lit up and their hands waved in excitement.

More of them came out, gathering around the hot spring to drink the water with parched mouths. "We did not know who had brought our water back. Our watchers said another star had fallen. Our tribesmen saw as you came from the water. It is our belief that sea-women brought the first flower to us. You are our fallen star, you are our sea-woman. We are forever indebted to you."

Explaining to the others what was said, Naruto offered Sakura a swift, proud pat on her back. "Wow! You're like, a God! I'm sure you can ask them anything you want, now."

"Sea-woman," Karin said, looking around. "That's another word for mermaid, yeah? I bet that's why the flower is named that."

Women and children inspect the travelers, looking curious and weary as Sakura tried to explain who she was. She talked about her village, and her friends. She was no God–but rather, a simple healer. They did not seem to take her explanation as fact.

Naruto crouched down next to a fur-clad child who seemed the bravest of the bunch. Their cheeks were fat and their hair was long. Sasuke couldn't say if it was a boy or a girl. Cute, though.

"Hey there, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!"

"Uruzu mahki, behleve et!" They repeated. A few toon off, mimicking the funny language. "Behleve et! Nehru Toh!"

The man grinned and reached into his travel pack. He's got several servings of dried deer jerky and he fanned them out for everyone to take a piece. "I'll bring candy next time. That'll blow your minds."

"Urizu! Mahki!" The children started to chant, splitting Naruto's surname into two.

Sakura flashed him a quick smile and finished her conversation with the elder. There was so much she'd memorized, so much she had to write and report. The excitement of it all made her heart thrum with glee.

"Are we ready to head out? I think we've made a large enough footprint here." Sakura asked the others, turning slightly.

"Yeah," Suigetsu remarked. "An elephant foot."

Blushing at the comment, Sakura turned away. They exchanged a few more polite goodbyes, the tribe slowly coming to grips with the fact that their guests were leaving. Sad expressions flickered across their faces, and Sasuke noticed the eldest man, who seemed to be the leader, share a few final words with Sakura. The man couldn't be over forty—perhaps he just aged well.

As he passed an object to Sakura, she prepared to bow one last time, but to Sasuke's surprise, the man captured her face and pressed his lips against hers. The gesture was so swift and unexpected that Sasuke felt momentarily frozen. Naruto let out a startled squeak as he jerked Sakura back, but the nomad remained unfazed, moving her hood aside to press his forehead against hers, murmuring in a tongue Sasuke didn't understand.

Sasuke scowled, yet he made no move to intervene as Sakura placed both hands on the man's shoulders, her eyes closing in a moment of connection. She repeated his words softly, and when they finally separated, she looked more radiant than Sasuke could ever recall seeing her.

Not far down the path, Naruto sidled up to Sakura, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "So… you and the caveman, huh?"

Sakura flipped her hair over her shoulder and pulled up the cowl of Sasuke's cloak, the fur obscuring her profile. "You know me, Naruto. I don't wait around. I take what I want, when I want it."

The man chuckled, clearly intrigued. "Okay, seriously, what was that about?"

"I don't want to tell you," she replied, a lightness in her voice. Sasuke remained silent, his gaze fixed ahead, grappling with an unnameable feeling as he walked alongside them. He wasn't sure why it bothered him, but the memory of their own fleeting kiss echoed in the quiet of his thoughts.

"Well, hell, I wanna know too." Suigetsu whined. "If I would have known you were that easy, I'd have stolen a kiss for myself."

"Watch it, fish-lips. I bite, too." Sakura scowled over her shoulder and happened to catch Sasuke's eye. He looks unbothered, staring ahead without offering Sakura the slightest glance.