Lost Time

The Land of Rivers

The sun's rays shone on Sakura's face, causing her to stir in her sleep. She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a groan. Morning already? She slowly sat up to check out her surroundings. The sun had only just started to rise, it was hardly over the horizon, yet it was big and bright already. She stretched and scanned the clearing for her teammate, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Sasuke?" Stood and called out for him. No response. She frowned and called out again, louder.

"Sasuke?!" Still no response.

At that moment, she heard rustling above her in the trees. Shit, an enemy? She pulled out a kunai from the pack she kept strapped around her lower back and waited. The rustling became louder until the source of the noise revealed itself.

Sasuke Uchiha leapt from the tree top and landed gracefully in front of her. Sakura yelped and stumbled back slightly.

"Damn it!" She yelled, throwing her kunai at his feet, "Leave me a note next time!"

Sasuke looked down at the kunai and back to Sakura with indifference on his face. "I found some berries." He pulled out a pouch from his pocket and tossed it to Sakura, who clumsily caught it. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to be up this early. We'll head out after you eat."

Sakura stared down at the pouch before taking a small dark berry out and eating it. I forgot he's been out travelling all this time. He must be used to eating whatever he finds.

The pinkette ate a handful of berries and gave the pouch back to Sasuke. She gathered her bag and turned to start running before a strong force pulled her backwards, causing her to fall.

"What did I tell you about that bag?" Sasuke bent down to take it from her.

Sakura grabbed his arm and pulled him down on the ground. She flipped him on his back and straddled him. "If you want to help me, knocking me down isn't exactly the way to do it."

The sass in her voice and the strength in her takedown took Sasuke by surprise, he laid stunned and wide-eyed. His expression was one that Sakura hadn't seen before, and it delighted her. She began laughing, causing Sasuke to put on his usual bored face.

"You could communicate or ask me for things first. Gentlemen don't usually take things from women without asking, you know."

The raven-haired man reached his arm up, but it was caught in Sakura's grip in an instant. She cocked her head to the side, asking for some sort of reply from him.

"Fine. May I carry your bag, please?" He looked as if he were pouting.

Sakura let out another laugh, prompting Sasuke to buck under her, knocking her off him. She landed with a thud and kept laughing as he picked up her bag without a word.

"I appreciate how much you want to help Sasuke, really," she let out another laugh and wiped a tear from her eye, "I just want you to talk to me, okay?"

He let out a reassuring "hnn" and started off toward the border, marking the second day of their mission.

The two teammates took their time travelling this time, not worrying about when they would arrive in the Land of Wind. Although the Land of Rivers was small and wouldn't take an entire day to travel across, Sakura had a feeling they would spending the night the night there anyway. The atmosphere there was quiet and peaceful. The air was cool and moist, and felt great on her skin as she leapt through the treetops. Sasuke let out a shrill whistle, a signal that meant to stop and meet up. Sakura let herself fall to the ground and landed in a kneeling position. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and stood.