Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Waking the Dead ❯ In the Rain ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Not gonna happen.

 

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Chapter 2

 

In the Rain

 

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Sasuke was the first one at the gates at the appointed time. He was wearing a rain cloak, his ANBU robes in his pack. His mask was at his hip, leaving his scratched headband visible. Before Naruto died, he had given Sasuke his headband back and though Tsunade had offered him a new one when he had returned, Sasuke had opted to keep his original as a tribute to Naruto, who had kept it for the years they had been apart. The Uchiha heir found it somewhat ironic that people - those that were either extremely brave or extremely stupid anyway - gave him odd looks for the scratch in the headband when it had been Naruto to scratch it in the first place during their fight at the Valley of the End.

 

Sasuke shook his head. He didn't need those memories coming back, especially right before a mission. A wandering mind was one the best ways for a ninja to get himself killed. Searching for a distraction, Sasuke looked up and was relieved to find one in Sakura, who was walking down the path towards him. She walked past a bench and the raven-haired man felt a twinge. That had been the place he had left her unconscious those eight years before. The pink-haired kunoichi seemed to either not to notice the location or to ignore it and gave a small wave as she approached. Sasuke rubbed his hands through his hair. His thoughts were all over the place today.

 

“Kakashi-sensei isn't here yet, I take it?” Sakura asked, glancing around. She was also in a rain coat, the bulge in her cloak obviously covering her pack which was carrying her medical supplies.

 

“No,” Sasuke replied, shaking his head. Rain dripped down the side of his face as the droplets were displaced from his hair.

 

“Figures,” the medic griped nostalgically.

 

The two former teammates waited in silence for their former teacher to show up, knowing full well they could be waiting until nightfall. Neither had anything to say after their conversation at the memorial so a silence fell between them that wasn't altogether uncomfortable. That was something Sasuke appreciated about Sakura; she was willing to sit in silence with him when she knew he was in no mood for conversation - which, in truth, was the case more often than not. She hadn't been like that when they were younger but had matured much since their days on Team 7.

 

They had been waiting close to an hour when Kakashi appeared from out of nowhere next to them. “Sorry I'm late, but I-”

 

“Got lost on the path of life,” Sasuke and Sakura finished for him in a monotone out of sheer habit.

 

Kakashi's one visible eye blinked at the unison of his former students. He wasn't surprised to hear it from Sakura, but even when they were younger Sasuke had paid little mind to Kakashi's tardiness and excuses other than to grumble about wasted training time. Many wouldn't have noticed the small act but for someone who knew Sasuke as well as Kakashi did, it was a blazing sign that something was going on in the Uchiha's mind. Kakashi looked at the ANBU captain out of the corner of his eye but saw nothing irregular. Pushing the observation to the back of his mind for later consideration, he straightened his cloak.

 

“So, shall we go then?” he asked.

 

Sasuke nodded and the team of three made their way out of the gates, all three members painfully aware of the missing presence of a certain loudmouthed blonde.

 

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

 

Tsunade watched the remaining members of Team 7 leave the gates of the village and disappear quickly into the falling rain. She sighed. She knew it was painful for those three to go on missions together, but if nothing else, they deserved to go on this reconnaissance mission. Had the Sound ninja been traveling anywhere besides that specific Akatsuki hideout, she would have at least sent Sai with them - despite Sasuke's inherent dislike of the other man - but more than likely wouldn't have sent them all together.

 

“Tsunade-sama?”

 

The Hokage turned to see Shizune standing in the doorway with Ton-Ton peering around her ankles. She nodded at her friend to come in.

 

“Team Sev-” Shizune caught herself a little too late. “Team Sasuke just left,” she amended, noting the fact Sasuke was in charge of this mission despite the fact his former sensei was on the team. Once it would have sounded odd to Tsunade's ears to hear Sasuke in charge of a mission, but since Sasuke had begun working his way through the ninja rankings at an amazingly fast rate, it was no longer unusual. Despite what the younger man might think, she did trust him.

 

“I saw,” the elder kunoichi said with a nod toward the window she had just been occupying.

 

“Is that really the best team to send?” Shizune asked after a moment.

 

“I've been fighting myself about that all day,” Tsunade replied wearily. “We know they can work well together and,” Tsunade pursed her lips, “they deserve this, Shizune. Of all the people in the village, no one deserves to check this out more.”

 

“So it really is the place Naruto di-” Shizune said, cutting herself off when she realized what she was saying.

 

Tsunade nodded tightly. “Not to mention Orochimaru. If there is even a chance he is alive, you know Sasuke is going to feel responsible.”

 

Shizune nodded in turn, not making the point that the woman in the room with her would feel equally - if not more - terrible if Orochimaru was indeed still alive. Tsunade was thankful to her friend for remaining silent on the matter.

 

“Do you think they will run into much trouble?” Shizune asked, scooping Ton-Ton into her arms. Tsunade frowned.

 

“It's hard to say. If Jiraiya's information is correct - which it almost always is - then Orochimaru is indeed alive and leading an army of Sound ninja. All three of them are smart enough to stay out of sight, but…” Tsunade trailed off.

 

“But?”

 

“But the mater might be a little too personal, especially for our ANBU captain,” a new voice cut in. Both kunoichi looked up to see Jiraiya standing in the doorway. The white-haired Sannin nodded at the women and stepped into the office.

 

“What is it, Jiraiya?” Tsunade asked carefully. The frog hermit's unannounced visits such as these usually brought unfavorable news.

 

“I was wondering if you were going to send anyone as support for Sasuke's team,” Jiraiya replied.

 

Tsunade turned to face her teammate fully. He was the only person besides Tsunade herself that could possibly outmatch Sasuke in consternation about Orochimaru possibly being alive. His face was serious for once, meaning his train of thought was running along the same tracks as her own.

 

“Do you think I need to?” Tsunade asked in turn. “You know how Sasuke will feel about it if I do.”

 

“Like he's being stepped on, yes,” Jiraiya replied, waving it off. “But better he's alive to be annoyed than dead.”

 

“It's just a reconnaissance mission,” Shizune said slowly.

 

“The last team that was sent to check this out never returned,” Tsunade said carefully.

 

“And Orochimaru will still be bitter about losing Sasuke's body. If he runs into Sasuke, there could be big trouble for them all,” Jiraiya replied, finishing Tsunade's own thought.

 

“What would you suggest, Jiraiya?” Tsunade asked, watching her old friend carefully.

 

“Who is in the village at the moment?” the hermit asked. Tsunade mutely pushed a list to the edge of her desk, which Jiraiya stepped forward to grab. He scanned over it for a few moments before nodding.

 

“The old Team Gai seems available.”

 

Tsunade blinked. “Gai, Lee, Neji, and Ten-Ten?” It had been a long time since that group had gone on a mission together, especially since Lee and Ten-Ten had their own students now and Neji was often out on one ANBU mission or another.

 

“Isn't that a bit of overkill?” Shizune asked in surprise. “Sending seven jounin on a reconnaissance mission?”

 

“A recon mission that could involve Orochimaru and even Akatsuki,” Tsunade clarified. “I agree with Jiraiya. Shizune, please have the old Team Gai in my office within the hour.”

 

“Yes, Tsunade-sama,” she said with a nod before exiting the room, Ton-Ton on her heels.

 

The Hokage turned to her old teammate and the two looked at each other for several moments before either spoke.

 

“What are you planning?” Jiraiya asked finally.

 

“I'll have them leave in the morning, giving Sasuke's team half a day to get ahead. That way he won't feel stepped on by Gai's team and do anything stupid but it will give Gai's team enough room to catch up if something goes wrong.”

 

Jiraiya nodded. “Makes sense.” His face turned grave. “But if Orochimaru is still alive, things could go wrong in a hurry and Gai's team won't have anyone to catch up to.”

 

“But at the same time,” Tsunade countered, “if Gai's team caught up with Sasuke's, then they would be in the same trouble as them. At least this way there would be someone to report back if something went wrong.”

 

Jiraiya arched an eyebrow. “Are you underestimating Sasuke's team?”

 

“Of course not,” the Hokage snorted. “I know them better than that.” She crossed her arms under her breasts. “I might, however, be overestimating Orochimaru.” She grinned impishly, suddenly looking wolfish to Jiraiya.

 

“But that's okay, now isn't it?”

 

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

 

Night came quickly with the rain falling and the late start time of the mission. Sasuke jumped from the trees the team had been moving through to the ground in a clearing around midnight. Sakura and Kakashi followed suit. Sakura looked at Sasuke curiously while Kakashi studied their surroundings.

 

“What is it, Sasuke-kun?” Sakura asked.

 

“We should stop and rest.”

 

“But we've barely started. We can keep going.”

 

“Sasuke is right,” Kakashi interjected. “We are least likely to get attacked in the middle of the night in the rain still this close to Konoha. If we rest now, we can start earlier and travel longer tomorrow.”

 

Sasuke nodded. “I'll stand the first watch.”

 

“I'll take second and you can have the final watch, Sakura,” Kakashi said, walking over to a nearby tree.

 

“Are you sure, Kakashi-sensei?”

 

“It's fine, Sakura. Get some rest,” her former sensei replied, dropping into a sitting position against the tree and pulling his cloak's hood up against the rain.

 

Sakura nodded to herself and made her way to another tree, pulling up her own hood as she did so. Sasuke looked around the clearing for another moment before vanishing somewhere into the treetops to stand watch over their small camp. She eased herself down to the wet ground and hugged her cloak to her. She was damp from running in the rain despite her cloak and now that they had stopped she was feeling the cool night air. She shivered involuntarily before closing her eyes to get some rest for the next day.

 

But despite the fact she knew she should be resting, she couldn't fall asleep - which was a rare occurrence since she, like any good Shinobi, had long since learned to sleep in almost any condition in which a team would stop for rest. Her thoughts kept wandering back to Sasuke. It was true what she had told him. She still loved him, despite the fact he had betrayed the village for power and revenge and - even if it was involuntary, which it was - played a part in Naruto's death five years before.

 

She knew he still blamed himself for it even when no one else did. Well, that wasn't true. There were those in the village that attributed Naruto's death to Sasuke's betrayal, but they were often the same people that had unfairly shunned Naruto as a child so didn't really deserve the time of day to share their unknowledgeable opinions.

 

It was still hard for her, even five years later, to truly accept that Naruto was gone. He had become like a brother to her in those years they had been on Team 7 together and then especially during the time they had been looking for Sasuke. She loved him dearly and it hurt that she would never see that blonde head or whiskered face of his again.

 

But as hard as it was for her, she hadn't been the one to hold Naruto as he died. That had been Sasuke. And she knew that he couldn't shake that image from his mind no matter how hard he tried. It was as if the Sharingan had implanted that image permanently into his mind's eye, though she knew that wasn't the case. With his dying breath, Naruto had told Sasuke that his death wasn't his fault and that he was glad that Sasuke would finally be going home to Konoha; that he had finally fulfilled his promise to Sakura and that was the most important thing.

 

That haunted Sasuke to no end.

 

And on tonight of all nights, Sakura was sure that was what he was thinking about.

 

It didn't seem right that he should be alone, mourning the death of his best friend and blaming himself for it.

 

Sakura opened her eyes and scanned the tree tops for Sasuke's chakra until she found him directly above her. Sparing a glance for Kakashi, who appeared to be sleeping but was most likely still awake as well, she pushed herself to her feet and with a burst of chakra landed on the branch next to Sasuke. He was sitting with his back against the trunk of the tree, legs stretched out across the branch and looking out over the clearing. He hadn't pulled his hood up against the rain so his hair was weighed down with water.

 

He made no move in surprise but nodded when she settled herself next to him on the branch. Neither spoke for a time.

 

“Shouldn't you get some rest?” Sasuke asked finally.

 

“I'm fine,” Sakura replied. “I was more concerned about you.”

 

Sasuke turned to look at her and for a moment Sakura looked into the haunted ebony depths of his eyes and was lost before she could shake herself. He was in pain and very few people could understand how intense it was. “I'm fine.”

 

“No, you're not.” She looked out over the clearing, ignoring the steadily falling rain. “You're blaming yourself again for Naruto's death.”

 

“So what if I am?”

 

Sakura blinked at the blunt statement, having expected the Uchiha to deny it. “I told you to stop blaming yourself,” she replied.

 

“It's not that easy, Sakura.” Sasuke's tone seemed exasperated, as far as Sasuke could get anyway.

 

“Do you know how annoyed Naruto would be with you if he could see you right now?” the pink-haired kunoichi demanded. “He didn't sacrifice himself for you to live the rest of your life blaming yourself for his death and not truly living. That was the last thing he would want and you know it. That's just how Naruto was.”

 

Sasuke remained silent and in the dark Sakura had a hard time telling whether it was out of consideration of what she was saying or if he was just ignoring her. Finally he sighed and bowed his head. His bangs fell into his face masking whatever emotions were threatening to creep up on his normally stoic face. “I keep seeing it over and over,” he whispered.

 

Sakura blinked, realizing what he meant. The image of Naruto jumping in front of Sasuke to take a killing blow in his stead would be forever ingrained into Sasuke's mind. He would always feel the blood that splattered from the wound onto his face no matter how many times he scrubbed himself raw. And the weight of Naruto's dying form would forever be on his shoulders.

 

Sakura suddenly had an overwhelming wave of sympathy pass over her. She would never fully understand what Sasuke had gone through that day, no matter how much pain she was in herself, which was a considerable amount. “Oh Sasuke-kun…”

 

Sasuke looked up, his hair falling out of his face and water dripping onto his pale skin. He looked out over the clearing appearing outwardly calm but Sakura noticed the tension in his posture. His hands were balled into fists and he seemed to be shaking ever so slightly. He wanted so desperately to cry but the tears wouldn't come.

 

“Dammit,” he whispered almost inaudibly against the still falling rain. “Dammit!” He slammed his hand against the branch he was on and Sakura wobbled for a moment as the tree strained against Sasuke's brute strength. She was about to make a light comment about not breaking their seat when she sneezed.

 

She blinked in surprise and Sasuke arched an elegant eyebrow. “You should get some rest, Sakura. We can't afford to have you slowing us down if you're sick.”

 

Suddenly feeling 12 again, Sakura stuck out her tongue at her former teammate - an action very few could get away with around the infamous ANBU captain. “I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me. I'm a-” She sneezed again, “medic, after all.” Sasuke shook his head and the kunoichi shrugged. “Well, it is a little cold and wet and we can't build even a small fire since everything is wet. I'll be fine.”

 

“You need rest. We need our medic running on full.” Sasuke suddenly smirked. “How are we supposed to trust you to take care of us if you can't even take care of yourself?”

 

Sakura tried to glare at Sasuke sternly but failed miserably. “I've treated your wounds countless times. I don't want to hear it, Sasuke.”

 

“I know.”

 

Sakura balked at the small smile that Sasuke had managed. Only today would Sasuke be so open around anyone, including her. Once they began traveling again in the morning, his aloof attitude will have returned and talking to him would be like talking to a stone; only stones wear away with time. Sasuke was worse than a stone anymore the way he had pushed himself away from everything and everyone.

 

The pink-haired kunoichi sneezed again and suppressed a shiver before rising to jump back down to her seat against the tree below. She wasn't taking very good care of herself lately if a little rain and cold was getting her sick this quickly. Though she had stood out in the rain at the memorial for a good bit of time before the mission had even begun and that had been without the cloak she wore now so she supposed it wasn't entirely surprising. It boggled her mind, however, how Sasuke could spend so much longer out in the rain and still remain healthy.

 

She jerked when she felt something pulling her down and started when she realized it was Sasuke and then blushed profusely when she realized she had ended up in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and avoided looking at her eyes.

 

“Sasuke-kun?” she asked carefully.

 

“I don't need a member of my team freezing and getting sick when time is important,” he grumbled. “And since we can't make a fire or use blankets, this is all we can do.”

 

Sakura smiled. “Thank you, Sasuke-kun.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, just get some rest.”

 

“Right.”

 

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

 

Kakashi opened his eyes a couple of hours later to an empty clearing feeling fully rested. He had noticed Sakura disappear into the tree tops with Sasuke but he was surprised he hadn't turned her away like he might have once. Shrugging, the copy-nin pushed himself to his feet and stretched out. He noticed the rain had stopped falling but the air was still cool, foreshadowing the arrival of fall and winter in the coming months. Sensing Sasuke's presence above the camp, Kakashi used a burst of chakra to reach the branch the ANBU captain was standing watch and almost lost his balance at the sight that greeted him.

 

Sasuke was leaning with his back against the trunk of the tree, head lolled to one side, fast asleep. As surprising as it was to find Sasuke asleep on his watch, what startled Kakashi more was Sakura. She was also asleep, wrapped in Sasuke's arms, her head leaning against his chest under his cloak as if sharing his body heat - which Kakashi realized was probably what was going on. Both Sasuke and Sakura were more exhausted then they realized - mentally more than physically - and it would serve the team best if they had the chance to rest.

 

In the morning, though, they were going to hear about this.