Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Of Kunai, Shuriken and Shinobi Love ❯ Our... Eventful Day Off ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two: Our... Eventful Day Off

(Sasuke's PoV)

The next day, I was early to training, like Kakashi-sensei wanted, but also because I'd spent a night fraught with nightmares. I was still shaking slightly from the last one, but you'd never notice it to look at me.

Damn you, Itachi... Orochimaru...

Sakura was already there, the first one. She was sitting under a sakura no hana tree, meditating. The tree was raining pink blossoms on her, but she didn't seem to notice. I stood a moment, awed that a human could appear so incredibly peaceful. But I had forgotten to mask my Chakra. The peace was shattered. Her green eyes snapped open, looking around in dizzy surprise, shaking the flowers from her hair. She seemed to brighten when she saw me

"Ohayo, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, grinning a good-morning and stretching. "You scared me. Make some noise next time!" "Sorry," I muttered. "Ohayo." I leaned up against my usual spot. Soon enough, she was leaning back up against the tree and seemed to fall asleep--or she was meditating again. As Konoha-genkure's most promising medic-nin, she did that a lot.

I yawned silently. I felt like falling asleep myself. I must've gotten about two hours of sleep last night. "Quiet," I commented. "That's because Naruto's not here," Sakura replied sleepily. "Your Chakra feels tired, Sasuke-kun." She opened a single eye. "You look tired, too."

I furrowed my brow at her. Damn. How did she know? Then I mentally smacked myself. Duh, Sasuke! You DO have a mirror! You look like a bloody ferret with those rings under your eyes! So I nodded. "Not much sleep last night," I replied. "Looks like Kakashi-sensei AND Naruto are late." "Oh, Naruto's probably lost on the road to life with Kakashi-sensei," Sakura snorted, sounding a little les drowsy. "Lost on the road to something, anyway. Sanity, probably." I chuckled. It was true, after all.

"YO!" came the familiar screech. "Oh, great," I muttered. "The world's most knuckle-headed ninja arrives." "SAKURA-CHAAAAN!" the blond idiot screamed. "SASUKE! GUESS WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? KAKASHI-SENSEI SAYS WE GET A FREE DAY TODAY BECAUSE HE'S GONNA BE IN MEETINGS WITH TSUNADE-BABA ALL DAY! SOMETHING ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE BUT IT HAS TO DO WITH SAND AND GAARA'S HERE! ALL THE SENSEIS ARE IN THE MEETINGS! WE ALL GET TO DO WHATEVER WE WANT ALL DAY! TSUNADE-BABA IS SOOOO COOOOOOOOOL!" Of course, he had to scream all that.

I poked my ear, wincing. "Shut up, Naruto," I snapped. "Tell us in a fashion that doesn't deafen us." "Kakashi-sensei says we have a free day today," Naruto said breathlessly. "WHEEEEEEEE! I'm gonna maybe go hang out by the river, then maybe eat a LOT of ramen, then maybe visit Neji and maybe Kiba too and DEFINITELY Gaara, and maybe I'll get Hinata to show me how to do the Gentle Fist, then maybe--" "SHUT UP!" Sakura shouted. "STOP SAYING MAYBE!" I felt a headache growing in my temples.

"Free day?" I said coolly, over their bickering. "All right with me." With that, I turned and strolled off, hoping to find somewhere to go to meditate, or take a nap, anything to soothe my throbbing headache. It was a lovely day and I didn't want to waste is sleeping inside. So, I'd waste it sleeping outside.

In the background I heard Sakura shrieking at Naruto--something about him running me off--but I ignored it because it was annoying and childish. It also just complemented my headache.

I stretched out beneath a tree in a nearby field. It was, ironically, a sakura no hana tree. Pink blossoms fell on me, but I didn't really mind. They smelled nice, like Sakura.

I would have minded in any other situation, but I was so tired... I leaned back against the sakura no hana tree and closed my eyes. I was soon deeply asleep.

And in the depths of a nightmare.

Orochimaru stood over me, teeth dripping with blood. Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei lay nearby, and somehow I knew they were dead and it was their blood dripping from Orochimaru's fangs. "You will come to me for power," the Grass ninja whispered. His neck stretched out, teeth extended for my neck...

The scene changed. Now I was amidst the ruins of the Uchiha Clan buildings. I was a little boy again, maybe eight or nine. An involuntary whimper worked its way out of my sleeping throat. Itachi stood before me. "It's not worth it to kill you," he whispered. "Foolish little brother." Suddenly my body was moving on its own; I was running toward him. "DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" I was screaming. His fist hit my stomach. I choked, feeling ribs break...

Bright green Healing-Chakra exploded into my mind.

I wrenched myself out of sleep with a scream. Hands left my forehead and took my shoulders, and I found myself staring into a pair of frightened green eyes. I stared into them, gape-mouthed with surprise and lingering fear, before I realized who it was and snapped my cold, indifferent mask back on.

"S-Sakura?" I said, furious at myself for letting the stutter get into my voice. "What're you doing here?" Since the only way I could think of to mask my fear and surprise was to be a cold-hearted bastard, that's what I did. "Go away," I added sharply. She ignored the last comment, and put her cool hands back on my forehead. "Naruto was pissing me off, so I went for a walk," she said, injecting a little more Healing-Chakra into my mind. "I felt your Chakra, came to say hi and you were having a nightmare. You also had a fever," she added. I automatically put a hand on my forehead, over hers. Sakura blushed and took her own hand away.

"I don't have that much of a f-fever," I protested, scowling at her and mentally cursing the stutter. Now I was awake, I had begun to realize the full horror of my nightmares, and began to shake. I didn't want to show weakness in front of anyone, especially Sakura (and Naruto). And I was tired and scared. So I was irritable. "Go away," I continued. "GOD, you're annoying!"

She looked away, hurt. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun," she said, in a voice so small it was hardly audible. Sakura stood, brushed off her rear, and wandered away.

I instantly felt so bad I was just about to run off after her to apologize when I caught myself. What was the matter with me? Yesterday I hadn't given a rat's ass about Sakura's feelings. Now...

Now, apparently, I did.

I remembered how her hand had felt under mine, on my forehead: cool, soft, protective. I felt my face grow warm as I blushed fiercely. Oh, damn...

It was about noon now. I had slept for nearly five hours. I really wanted to sleep some more, but I felt so guilty about making Sakura feel bad... and then there were the nightmares.

I reached up and slapped myself across the face. Hard. It hurt. Snap out of it! I rubbed my cheek with a scowl. What the hell's the matter with me?