Book 1: Broken (Kiba Inuzuka Love Story)

Chapter 23

Kimiko's P. O. V:

We'd found a hiding place in a hollowed trunk and after I'd healed my wound, I'd helped tended to the boy's wounds. While I was tending to Sasuke, I'd noticed the Curse Mark he'd received was the Heaven Curse Mark, the same as mine.

I watch as Sakura places her hand on Sasuke's forehead and murmurs, "He's still got a high fever."

"They'll be okay, Sakura," I tell her. We watch them for several hours, and I could see Sakura beginning to nod off to sleep. I wanted to sleep too, but I think she needs it more than I do. By now, the sun had gone down and the forest was blanketed in night. "Sakura." She jerks awake to look at me. "You should get some rest. I'll watch over them for now."

"Are you sure?" Sakura asks.

I nod my head. "You need to get some rest. I'll wake you up the second there's any change in them."

Sakura gives me a grateful smile as she says, "Thank you, Kimiko."

Sakura goes to sleep in a corner as I sit by the boys, keeping watch in Sakura's place.

I just couldn't believe I'd failed in protecting Sasuke. It's all my fault he's like that.

🗡🗡🗡

It was morning as I sit and watch over Sasuke and Naruto. I know I'd promised Sakura to wake her up, but it's not like the boys had changed, either.

So far, there's been no attack from other Genin teams.

I go still at a vaguely familiar chakra signature, and my violet eyes narrow. I shake Sakura as I say, "Sakura." She jumps awake.

"K-Kimiko?! Wait... have you been up all night?" Sakura asks to which I nod my head. "Why didn't you wake me up?!"

"The boys are still ads unconscious and you needed sleep," I respond.

Just then, we whip around to see the bushes rustle, the pinkette freezing as she grips a kunai knife in her hand. We both deadpan at the sight of a squirrel, chewing an acorn.

"Awe, man! Don't surprise me like that, little guy!" Sakura breathes, only to gasp as the squirrel starts runner by towards us, she throws her kunai and it hits the ground right at the squirrel's feet, startling it. The squirrel scampers off into the bushes as Sakura breathes a sigh of relief.

Then, the three Sound Genin from the first exam come out from the bushes. I keep chewing my cookie even as I get to my feet.

The hunchback says, "At least you don't have to keep watch anymore. What's the point, when we've already found you. Now, wake Sasuke up. We want to fight him."

I ask in annoyance, "What do you idiot threesome want?"

Sakura demands to know, trembling hand reaching for her kunai as she too gets up, "I know Orochimaru is calling the shots from the shadows." This shocks them. "What's that strange bruise on the back of Sasuke's neck? You're behind this, too, aren't you? And now you wanna fight him when he can't defend himself?!"

Hunchback muses, "What in the world could he be thinking?"

The raven haired male says, "I can't stay quiet after hearing you talk like that. First, I'm going to kill these girls, then I'm going to kill Sasuke."

He stands up on the boulder he's sitting on, but the man is stopped by hunchback. "Wait, Zaku."

"What? Why?!"

Hunchback says as he steps forward, crouching by a light patch of earth and putting his finger before it, "zits so obvious. This is the colour of dirt that's recently been dug up, and this type of grass doesn't grow in a place like this. You know, if you're going to lay a trap, there's no point unless you make sure it's actually hidden."