Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Blood of the Orochimaru ❯ Sleeping by Instinct ( Chapter 9 )

Author's Note: SasuSaku moments abound! After eight chapters before giving you the first one, it's only fair I give you more in the tenth chapter (since I only gave you one in chapter nine). Anyways, I really have nothing to say expect enjoy the story (I'm not going to bother trying to bore you with my ramblings today).

~Yuugi-chan

 

Italics- flashbacks

 

 

 

Sakura woke up to the hissing and crackling of a fire. She shakily sat up on the blankets she was just recently sleeping on. Both Ino, Naruto, and even Sasuke were eating ramen around the fire in a circle.

“Where am I?” Sakura asked the first thing that popped into her head. Three sets of heads snapped around to look at her.

“Sakura-chan's awake!” Naruto happily cried, leaping up to give her a hug. He was immediately grabbed by the back of his jacket. “Hey, let me go Sasuke-bastard!” he shouted, struggling to get free from his grasp. Ino conked Naruto on the head after shouting that Sasuke was not a bastard. Sasuke gave both of them annoyed looks and gave an exasperated sigh. He looked over to Sakura.

“We're in the forest. It's around eight p.m. You've been sleeping for over twelve hours,” he replied. Sakura nodded and tried to stand up but immediately clutched her side in pain. “You haven't fully recovered, so you should just stay where you are for now.” Sakura nodded again and flopped back down on the blankets. She looked over to her best friend.

“Oi, Ino,” she said, “who bandaged your arm?” Ino gave a harsh glare in Naruto's direction. Naruto put on his fox-like grin while scratching the back of his head. “No wonder. Ino, come over here with the first-aid kit so I can bandage your arm properly.”

As Sakura bandaged Ino's arm Naruto asked, “Why was there an explosion in the forest?” Sakura looked at him as she remembered the scene.

 

 

Sakura was running through the forest trying to lose the pursuing Orochimaru. She never did. Realizing it was hopeless to keep on running, she slapped explosion notes on every few trees, the spell set to explode when her enemy reached a certain point. He caught her a short while after, putting jutsus on her that pained her from the inside so she wouldn't escape as easily. She eventually freed herself by stabbing a kunai in his shoulder, which, in turn, made Orochimaru jump back, setting off the chain if explosion notes in the process. Unfortunately, Sakura couldn't escape in time because of the internal jutsu, causing her to get caught in the blast of her own trap…

 

 

“Sasuke-kun?” Sakura called into the darkness.

“Hai?” he responded after relighting the fire with a jutsu, lighting up the night. Being the only one who knew how to perform such a jutsu, he was put in charge of tending to the fire.

“Are you sure you're okay?” Mumbling could be heard from a half-asleep Naruto, asking if Sakura meant physically or mentally. A resounding smack from Ino caused Naruto to shut his mouth as both Sasuke and Sakura flinched as they heard the impact. “As I was saying, are you sure you're okay?”

“You really should worry about yourself. You're in no position to be asking me about my health in the state you're currently in now,” Sasuke said, walking over to Sakura. Sakura was about to protest, but was cut short by a fit of coughing that resulted in blood dripping down her lips. Sasuke mentally cursed. He was sure that he'd gotten rid of that cough. Sakura wiped her mouth with her bandaged arm and looked over to Sasuke who had sat down next to her. Sakura gave him a quizzical look, but did not press the matter further. A few moments later, snores could be heard from Naruto. Sasuke muttered under his breath about something to do with Naruto not giving him any peace even at night. Sakura smiled slightly at this, but it was soon contorted into an expression of pain. She groaned as Orochimaru's jutsu took affect again. Sasuke gave her a look of concern. Sakura gave a small whimper of helplessness as a wave of pain washed over her, burning her insides. Sasuke leaned over and shook her shoulder, saying something Sakura couldn't make out because of the overwhelming burning.

Sakura immediately clamped a hand over her mouth, looking around desperately, hoping Sasuke would get the hint. She was too weak to move out of the way, even though she wanted to. Sasuke recognized the hint, but not soon enough. Sakura leaned over a vomited blood on Sasuke's shirt. Sasuke grimaced. She looked up at him and gave him a tired, but apologetic, look. She looked on the verge of tears. Sasuke shook his head indicating that it was no big deal. Sasuke pitied the poor girl; she'd been having a rough time since this morning. Sasuke sighed and took off his shirt, he'd figure out what to do with it in the morning.

Under normal circumstances, Sakura would have blushed outright while celebrating in her head. Sakura, instead, gave him a vacant look as she lay back down. Sasuke looked over to the dying fire. He stood up to clear away the ash and ignite the embers, but he felt a tight grip on his wrist. Sakura gave him a pleading look as he looked down at her. Though he'd never admit it, the sight just melted his heart. Typically, he'd call this look “pathetic”.

“It hurts. It really hurts,” she moaned. “Please help me. I don't think I can stand it much longer.” Sasuke sighed and sat back down, picking her up and placing her head in his lap. “G-Gomen Sasuke-kun.” She silently started crying.

“Don't cry. It pains me to see you cry,” he said rather awkwardly. The words tasted foreign to him. He was unconsciously running his fingers through her hair, which had gotten long over the years. She buried her head into his chest, trying to absorb as much warmth as possible.

“Why?” she mumbled.

Sasuke opened his mouth, but shut it almost instantly. He wasn't exactly sure how to answer that question. He just grunted in response. Sakura seemed satisfied with the answer as she curled herself up in his lap. Sasuke cursed mentally when he turned a slight shade of pink. Sasuke shivered as a gust in wind hit them. He pulled Sakura closer to him to keep himself warm. Even though he didn't really sleep much at night because of the nightmares he kept having about his brother, he felt his eyelids grow heavy with sleep. He pulled the blankets over him and Sakura and rested his head in the crook of her neck. In just a few minutes, he was fast asleep in that position.

 

Naruto wasn't really asleep. He was worried about Sakura even though he knew Sasuke wouldn't let anything harm her. He watched as the couple fell asleep in each other's arms by instinct. A small smile played across his lips. He didn't feel any jealously towards his teammate, he had given up on Sakura two years ago, and he had his eyes set on Hinata now ever since she got the courage to tell him that she liked him. He was happy Ino wasn't awake to witness this. He'd be mutilated if she were. Unfortunately, that thought didn't last very long when he found Ino strangling him to vent her anger because she saw the whole thing also. The only words Naruto managed to choke out were, “Help me…”

 

 

Author's End Note: Yes, Sasuke turned OOC yet again, so I'm not going to restate it in the rest of the story. It'll just be implied. Naruto's also OOC, but that will change sooner or later. Oh yes, I was going to have this set in the manga timeline, but it would be really wrong to have them at fourteen in the sequel, so they're about sixteen in this story. It's not exactly AU, but it doesn't follow the manga timeline either, but hey, you're not supposed to think that far.

 

P.S. Yes, I made this chapter longer…