Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Child at Heart ❯ Dark Secrets ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer:Unfortunately I don't own Naruto. ::sobs::
Title: Child at Heart: Dark Secrets
Notes: I love the ending of this chapter, its so cute.

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Sasuke cradled Sakura in his arms, slowly rocking her back and forth like a newborn infant, something his mother used to do to him when he was ill or sad.

She hadn't woken up since their encounter with the mysterious ninjas and it was staring to worry him. Her body was burning up and she was not responding to either him or Naruto. His hold tightened on her trembling body earning a little gasp from her quivering lips.

Sakura…

Every now and then she would cry out in pain, he could tell nightmares were haunting her from the way her pretty face would scowl followed by uncontrollable tears. She would reach out to anything that was near and grip onto it, tightly as she could, then her hold would loosen after her sobs turned into quiet whimpers.

He heard keys jiggling from outside his room at the inn; Naruto was probably trying to get in to check on Sakura. The door squeaked opened, revealing wild blonde hair that peeked from the other side of the door followed by a very tired looking Naruto. He sauntered his way towards the bed before flopping face first on the mattress, rolling on his back he looked up to his right to see Sasuke still holding Sakura.

"How is she doing?" his gaze never leaving Sakura's trembling body.

Sasuke shook his head, "I gave her another dosage of medicine to calm the fever, but its still very high."

Naruto sighed and sat up. He crawled next to Sasuke and placed his calloused hand on Sakura's forehead.

She's burning up!

He laid his back against the wall next to Sasuke and stretched his legs. Carefully he picked her feet and laid them across his thighs.

Naruto slowly began to massage her feet, her muscles relaxing slightly at the contact, before her body going limp in Sasuke's arms.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto stopped to look at him and shrugged, "I'm giving her a foot rub."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him, "Why?"

"She always had me giving her massages when she would catch a cold or the flue."

Sasuke chuckled and tore his gaze from her face to look at Naruto.

"That must have been all the time," he shifted Sakura in his arms to a different position, arms growing sore from holding her, "Did she ask you sweetly or did she pound you?"

"Well at first she would ask me sweetly then it was more of an order than a request…I didn't mind as long as I didn't get on her bad side. Although I think she was only making me her give massages because she was jealous that I was spending a lot more time with Hinata-chan."

Naruto laughed and Sasuke found his laughter contagious, the room's spirit was lifted slightly with happy chortles that echoed from their throats. They both became silent after a while, neither knowing what to say next; obviously both were lost in their thoughts.

Sasuke was the first to break the uncomfortable silence, "I was only gone for five minutes…I should have stayed with her…"

Naruto looked up at him, he took the liberty of punching Sasuke on the arm earning a growl from him and went back to Sakura's feet. He smiled when he saw Sasuke frown.

"Stop blaming yourself, it wasn't your fault. If she heard you saying that she would be pissed, you know how sensitive she is about other people fighting her battles for her," Sasuke merely nodded at Naruto, "Besides, now I have something to blackmail you with."

Sasuke's body stiffened and he whipped his head around to glare at Naruto, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Ah come on Sasuke, you make it so obvious." Naruto chirped a little too happily.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, "What?"

"I think Sakura-chan will be very pleased to know that The Uchiha Sasuke has been at her side since our fight with those bastards, being protectively held, having words of comfort whispered delicately into her ear by your hot breath and not to mention looks of hunger reflecting from your eyes that scream lust!"

Sasuke stared at Naruto with disbelief, wondering how he could make a simple gesture really dirty, he quickly slapped Naruto on the back of the head as hard as he could and went back to holding Sakura. Naruto's response did not satisfy him, instead of screaming at him and calling him names like Sasuke-bastard he was laughing.

"What's the matter Sasuke-chan? Is the Ice-bitch finally able to love or is it just a need to screw a pretty girl and restore the Uchiha clan? I wouldn't blame you since Sakura-chan is very attractive, but she's not that easy."

Sasuke did not answer his question, he felt his blood boiling; he jerked his head to the left and glared daggers at Naruto who was happily smiling at him.

"You are a real perv--"

"How long have you been keeping your feelings about her bottled up?" Naruto's voice quickly changed into a serious, more mature tone surprising Sasuke a bit. Sasuke tore his gaze from Naruto's piercing blue eyes and stared at the whitewashed wall on the opposite side of the room.

He sighed, "Two years at least."

Naruto promptly nodded and placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "Sasuke this is your chance to win her over," he said darkly, "When she wakes up I could leave you two alone for some time…I think she's on birth control so you don't have to worry about using rubber or getting her pregnant."

Sasuke could feel heat rising to the surface of his face. He lifted his arm intending to send a hard blow to the blond boy; Naruto must have seen the murderous glow radiating from Sasuke because he quickly waved his arms at him apologetically.

"I was kidding, I was kidding!" he frantically waved his arms at Sasuke.

"Dobe," he turned around, feeling a bit embarrassed.

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Neji sat quietly outside the café sipping his tea while reading Konoha's newspaper. Even as he read his mind kept wondering back to the pink haired woman.

How long had it been since he last saw Sakura. Twenty days, almost three weeks to be exact. Didn't she mention that her mission was only going to take two weeks tops, which depended on the weather. He frowned, something wasn't right. He noticed most of the older jounins and anbu squad had meetings early in the mornings with the Hokage since team seven's departure. Something important must have happened if it was being kept hushed.

A slight squeak from the chair in front of him brought him back to reality. He glanced up from the newspaper and met happy hazel eyes.

"Hey Neji!" she beamed at him.

"Ten-Ten good morning," he replied respectfully.

She smiled at him, "It's been a while since I've seen you."

"Yes it has," he nodded.

Neji folded the newspaper and placed it neatly on the table, and brought his attention back to Ten-Ten who was quietly watching people passing by.

"Did you just return from a mission?" he asked and sipped his tea afterwards.

She turned around and smiled at him, "Yes, I came back around five in the morning. I was planning on sleeping in, but Lee came by and insisted I run laps around Konoha with him."

"Did you?" for some reason he found himself a bit jealous.

"I only ran one lap with him until he got distracted by some merchant girl that was flirting with him." she sighed, "She was really pretty."

"She must be color blind to not notice his ugly bright green jumpsuit," he replied somberly.

She giggled and rested her chin on her hands, which were supported by her elbows on the table.

"Must be."

"Ten-Ten are you busy today?"

"No, why?" surprise evident in her wide eyes.

"Would you like to have lunch with me this afternoon?" he sipped his tea again.

Ten-Ten happily nodded, which caused Neji to break into a smile.

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Night came very quickly, whispers of the wind rasped against Sasuke's window. The morning glow had died into an eerie, sad glow looming across the peasant town. Lights from outside were still on and the noise from the streets was quietly dying with each passing hour. Rain was still pounding since they arrived at the inn.

Sasuke turned away from the window and laid beside Sakura, facing her. He watched her rosy parted lips, hot breath tickling his face, while her chest heaved with each breath.

Her fever went down soon after Naruto had descended to his room to rest. She was sleeping more calmly and peacefully since the fever decided to banish.

He closed his eyes and felt himself drifting into sleep; Sakura's breathing was also slowly luring him deeper into sleep. His eyes shot wide open when he heard her mumbling, his face softened and he smiled at her sleeping face.

He brought his hand to her face and gently stroked her flushed cheek. She quickly responded to his touch by wiggling closer to his body for warmth. He wrapped his arm around her petite body and held her close.

She sluggishly wrapped her arms around his waist, and snuggled her face into his neck. He let out a sigh of content; his body relaxing comfortably against Sakura's and slowly feel asleep with the help of Sakura's incoherent mumblings.