UPROOT||SASUSAKU||COMPELET

chapter 10

Team 7 carried on the rest of the way to the Land of Waves with Hitu. Along the way, they learned of Hitu’s background, what he did for a living, they learned of his family, and why he had been in Konoha. Once dropped off, Hitu’s family thanked the Leaf nin, and offered them not only to stay for dinner, but a place to sleep over night as well.
“Ah, you don’t have to do that!” Naruto cooed, “but we’d be more than happy to stay.”
Kakashi nodded and by the wrinkles near his eye, he was smiling underneath his mask. “If you’d have us, we would happily stay.”
Hitu’s wife nodded and ushered the shinobi into their house. The house was somewhat small, but had plenty of room to house the guests. While there was two spare bedrooms, Hitu’s wife - Kenu, began to think of how this would work out, exactly. As she shuffled from room to room, and pulled linens from one room, which was a queen sized bed, and took them to the next, which was full.
“Well, I’m sorry to say it, but I’m not sure all three of you men will fit on a queen sized bed…” Kenu recalled, wiping the sweat from her brow. The older woman had been moving around frantically, trying to adjust the sleeping situation and figure things out. Sakura, on the other hand, was turning a light shade of pink and finally decided to speak up.
“Kenu,” she cleared her throat. “I’ve known these boys and my sensei since I was a young girl, and wouldn’t mind sharing a bed. After all, we’re team mates.” Sakura refused to look at Sasuke. Her face would flair of, and she’d be as bright as a tomato.
Kenu looked from the pink haired girl, to the silver haired shinobi; a raised eye brow seemed to be asking Kakashi if that would acceptable. The slouching shinobi shrugged his approval and looked to Sakura.
“Take Naruto. I don’t like sleeping next to him.” Naruto’s eyes opened up wide now and he looked to his sensei as if he was speaking a foreign language. Although he hadn’t looked at Sasuke yet, he could feel the burning glare that he was receiving from his best friend.
“No. I wanna be with you, Kakashi-sensei.” Naruto began to whine, dropping to his knees and clutching around their sensei’s legs. “Please don’t make me sleep with Sakura. No offence to you, Sakura. I just want to be with Kakashi-sensei!”
“Fine. Sasuke, Sakura. You’ll be in a room then.” The silver haired shinobi slouched, declaring lazily as he kicked Naruto off of him, “it’s settled.”
Kenu nodded happily and showed everyone to their rooms. “I’ll get dinner started. It should be done within the hour or so. Feel free to make yourself at home.”
Sakura shuffled her way into her’s and Sasuke’s room and she set her back pack down on the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. Undoing her braid and combing her fingers through her hair, she flopped back onto the bed and closed her eyes for a bit. As she began to doze off, she felt a small but thunderous chakra pulse next to her, and the scent of burning fires and cinnamon invaded her nostrils. A smile graced her lips.
“I saw the look you gave Naruto.” The pinkette murmured in a sleepy voice. The hoarse chuckle that escaped Sasuke’s lips made Sakura’s heart skip a beat.
“I did nothing of the sort.” The Uchiha retorted.
Sakura could hear him shuffling around the room and she finally felt the side of the bed sink in and figured Sasuke’s was sitting down. A loud exhale filled the room, and then she finally felt him flop back on the bed beside her. When she opened her eyes, her emerald orbs found shimmering silver eyes looking at her. The way his eyes glistened in the lighting of the room made Sakura’s cheeks heat up.
“What?” She asked, fumbling around with her fingers, and trying to distract her mind.
“Just thinking.” His voice was so smooth and quiet, intoxicating almost. Sakura simply nodded before closing her eyes again. Before she knew it, she was soundly asleep beside a smirking Sasuke. He grabbed her hand gently, and brought her knuckles to his lips. Her slender fingers felt good against his smooth lips as he placed his lips against her knuckles.
xxx
Once dinner had been been served, the shinobi ate their fair share, and proceeded to help clean up the dishes so Kenu wouldn’t be stuck cleaning up after everyone. While her house was a full one tonight, she insisted that her children help her clean up instead of the guests.
“You escorted Hitu here. It’s the least we can do!” The older woman insisted, pushing the Leaf nin out of the kitchen and away from the dishes. “You four just relax. Go on a walk, do something! Just don’t bother cleaning up. We’ve got it.” The lady’s green eyes complimented her dark brown hair, and light pink lips. Upon agreement, Kakashi and Naruto decided to go spar outside and get some of their unused energy out of their bodies. Sakura on the other hand, decided to go to the market and replenish her medical supplies; Sasuke towed along behind her.
“You don’t have to come with, ya know?” Sakura stated as they walked through the streets of the small village. The way the fog began to descend from the nearby forest reflected the setting sun, and tinted all the buildings with an orange glow.
“Remember last time we were here?” Sasuke didn’t seem to care about her remark. Instead, he walked along side her, happily, with his hands in his pockets.
The flashbacks came back to Sakura, and she immediately looked to Sasuke.
“I remember how you cried on my chest, knowingly violating one of the rules of being a shinobi.” Sasuke teased her, looking to her and offering her a smile. Sakura simply rolled her eyes and continued on her way to the nearest stall to begin stocking up on supplies.
“That was some time ago, huh…” Sakura trailed off as she paid for the items that she picked out and grasped the sack of supplies from the stall keeper and nodded her thanks.
“Indeed.” The Uchiha grabbed the bag from her and began to walk away.
Sakura shrugged to herself and followed after him. The pinkette was a little curious as to why he’d bring that up. Not that it was important or anything, but it was a bit random. As they continued walking, she realized they had walked away from the center of the town, and were now on the outskirts. Mainly heading towards an open spot within the trees. As Sasuke led the way with the small bag in his hand, Sakura thought he looked quite cute. The way his shoulders moved as his arms swung, and the bouncing of his rebellious spikes, she giggled to herself.
“What?” Sasuke turned his head slightly and stopped.
“Nothing!” Sakura held her hands up and stopped as well. She looked around at the location that had stopped at, and noticed that it was vaguely familiar. “Hey, this is where he practiced chakra control and climbed the trees!”
“Ah.” The Uchiha set Sakura’s bag of supplies off the side and focused chakra to his feet. He then took off towards the tallest tree in site, and skillfully made it to the top. As he was perched up at the top, he peaked down at Sakura. To his surprise, a kunai was hurling towards his face, and he barely pulled his body away; avoiding contact. Once he re-balanced himself, Sakura was perched at the top of a tree next to him, grinning.
“What the hell was that?”
“Distraction technique, I suppose.” Sakura cooed as she turned towards the setting sun. The rays of deep oranges and burning reds that cast upon the land in front of them was breath taking. While the two remained perched at the tops of the trees for quite some time, Sasuke finally cleared his throat, breaking the silence.
“You’ve grown a lot, Sak.”
Did he just use a nickname? Inner Sakura was back, and questioning what the hell was going on. She was also blushing, and trying to control herself from losing balance and falling from the top of the tree.
She found herself looking into Sasuke’s eyes again that day, and couldn’t help but notice that his eyes held sincerity. The pinkette finally smiled, and looked away from him and began to make her way down from the tree. While she hopped and slid from branch to branch, she was suddenly plucked from the tree, and held against something almost as sturdy as a tree trunk.
Burning fires and cinnamon.
Sasuke held her closely against his chest as they reached the forest ground. She felt her heart pace increase as she looked up at Sasuke. Before she could comprehend what was going on, his lips were against hers in one graceful movement. His hand came up to caress the side of her face. While she was confused as to what was going on, she finally relaxed, and accepted the fact that Sasuke Uchiha’s lips were against her own; warm, smooth, and enticing.
As he pulled away, Sakura found that she was breathless. The taste of him still lingered on her lips, and she was left with wanting more. His hand was still placed on the side of her cheek, but began to trail down and rest on the side of her neck.
“Sasuke…” She whimpered. The curse mark began to boil on her skin and she felt as though it was going to rip apart from her body, and take off on its own. The only reason she could think of why it was reacting, was due to Sasuke’s skin against her own. Or was it because of their kiss? Either way, she grasped at her neck and doubled over due to the pain. Sasuke caught her in time, and lifted her back to her feet - a worried expression painted his face.
“It wasn’t that bad, was it?” He asked, half jokingly, half serious.
Sakura smirked from underneath her bangs, then let out a small laugh. “It’s not that. My curse mark is reacting and I’m not sure why.” The pain was throbbing now, and she was clueless as to what she should do to it. Finally calming down a bit and catching her breath, she focused some chakra to her hand and began to take the edge off of the pain. The soothing hum of chakra hushed the throbbing of the mark, and all signs of discomfort were gone. Once finished, she found that Sasuke was staring at her with a worried expression still.
She placed her hand on his cheek, and kissed the other. “It wasn’t bad. At all,” she taunted, and slipped past him, making a run for it. Sasuke grinned at this game and chased off after her. As he honed in on her chakra signature, he came to find out that she was concealing it.
Two can play at this game.
As he smirked to himself, he took to the trees and began his hunt for the pinkette. All while searching for her, his mind kept wandering back to the way she felt against his lips. The way she tasted, how warm and soft those thin, pink lips of hers felt against his. Losing himself to his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed that the kunoichi was now behind him, tackling him from the tree branch, and both were hurdling towards the forest floor. Activating his Sharingan, he switched their positions gracefully and upon landing, he was now on top of her. To his surprise, he was now holding her substitution, and the cool metal of a kunai made against the back of his neck made his lips pull up into his famous smirk.
“You got me.” The Uchiha admitted, turning around to see Sakura was standing there with a grin on her face. She immediately dropped the kunai and embraced Sasuke in a hug, and pressed her lips against his. This time, their kiss was more demanding than passionate, like their first one. Sasuke wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her down on top of him, deepening the kiss. The way her body straddled his felt so right and the way their mouths molded against each other made the blood in his body feel like molten lava, along with his mind that began to go fuzzy. The way her body pressed against his, and the way her lips fits perfectly against his, made his body feel numb.
“Fuck,” was the only word Sasuke could pant out. As he pulled away for the second time, Sakura simply looked at him, smiling as usual. Her hair seemed to have slipped out of its neat braid, and the loose pieces around her face attracted Sasuke more. As much as he wanted her, he needed to keep control and back down.
“I understand.” Said Sakura, her cheeks lightly painted with a shade of red. The shy facial expression that overtook her features made Sasuke’s body lunge forward, and grasp her cheek once more, and he planted a small kiss against her swollen lips.
“Another time,” the promise within the tone that he spoke made Sakura perk up. As the Uchiha gently removed her from his lap, he stood up and helped her to his feet as well. Once they were both standing, they began to make their way back to the house. The sun that was lighting the way up on their way here was now gone, and the forest was glowing with the feint traces of twilight.
“Shit, I forgot the supplies.” A frustrated Sakura began to trace her steps back and go back for the bag of supplies. “I’ll be right back!”
“Don’t be annoying, I’m coming with you.” Sasuke grunted, and the two shinobi made their way back to find the bag of supplies.
Along the way, they made jokes, talked more, and caught up on a more personal level. Like usual, once they got back to the rest of their team, Naruto was eyeing them suspiciously. Sakura and Sasuke glared at him, simultaneously, and the blonde finally got the hint to keep his mouth shut.
“You two were gone for awhile. What were you up to?” Kakashi asked, entering the front room of Hitu and Kenu’s home. Their children sat on either side of Naruto, pulling at his jacket to show them more jutsus.
“We went to get supplies, and took a detour back. We thought it’d be amusing to go to the place when we first came to the Land of Waves as Genin and practiced our chakra control.” Sakura smiled at her sensei, lifting the bag of supplies to show that they actually had gone to a market for supplies. She definitely left out the part of her and Sasuke’s lip locking episode - thinking about it made her body heat up again.
“Ah. Amusing.” Kakashi looked to Sasuke, lifting his eyebrow. “Did she show you some chakra control techniques again?”
Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes. As embarrassed as he was, he envied Sakura’s chakra control. He made his way through the front room, and to the bathroom. Upon arrival, he looked at himself in the mirror and noticed the blades of grass and twigs in his hair. He remembered that Sakura’s hair probably wasn’t any better. Sighing a low, but frustrated sigh to himself, he began picking the pieces of grass and twigs from his hair and run a hot shower.
That teme.
“You don’t get that choice, Sakura. Either leave, or kill him.” The loud and atrocious hiss sent shivers down the pinkette’s spine. She found herself back inside one of Orochimaru’s lairs. The yellow eyed Sannin glared at her, and she despised the way he snaked into mind and soul.
“I’m not leaving without him, Orochimaru.” Sakura spat out, gritting her teeth together. The way she stood over the motionless body was like a mother bear protecting her cubs.
“Fine. Then you’ll die.” The way his eyes narrowed in on the pinkette made her body go numb, and her mind go blank. The second she began to pull a kunai from her pouch, she was taking a swift kick to the ribs, and her back colliding with the nearest wall. A loud gurgle escaped her throat, and blood began to flow from her mouth.
“Don’t touch him!” She screamed out in horror. Forgetting that the Sannin had probably broken multiple ribs, she was hurling her body towards him, kunai posed.
As she reached him and stood a mere foot away, her body stopped; motionless as ever. A horrible screech erupted from her small body, and she dropped to her knees and began to scratch at her neck. The curse mark was scorching hot and tears began to fill the corners of her eyes. As she dropped to her side, the cackle of Orochimaru made her cringe.
“Aw, my poor child. That damn curse mark doesn’t behave for you it seems. Looks like it’s only answering to me. What a shame.”
Between loud whimpers and the throbbing of her neck, she looked to the motionless body; Sasuke lay there in his own blood, mouth partially open, his skin covered in dirt, cuts, sweat and bruises. She could sense the feint chakra flicker within him, and the longer it took her to get him out of here, the more blood he lost.
“It’s a shame I can’t use him as my next vessel. Looks like he’ll just have to-”
Sakura flung her last kunai at her ex-mentor, making contact with his knee. The sharp inhale and curses that fell from the Sannin’s mouth made her smirk.
“Now he’s going to die, you little brat!”
As Sakura watched from her position on the floor, Orochimaru pulled his Kusanagi sword from within his body and held it over Sasuke’s body. As he began the plummet of his sword towards Sasuke’s body, the onyx eyes of the Uchiha opened and made eye contact with Sakura. The tears that had been streaming slowly from her eyes began to flow harder, and she was now screaming and flailing.
“Nooo!-”
Arms were now embracing her body, and a hand was covering her mouth. Sweat beads began to fall down the sides of her face as she sat up. She realized now that it was just a dream, and she was safely tucked away with Sasuke in their own room. As the pinkette’s breathing calmed down, she slowly laid her head back and against her pillow, turning her head to look in Sasuke’s direction. Thankfully, the dim light of the moon lit up his features, and caught the sparkle in his eyes.
Sasuke noticed that the ink black marks were spread thoroughly across her body, yet she was still stable. As he reached over to brush the tears from her cheek, they slowly started to recede back to their home within the curse mark.
“It was just a dream.” His hushed whisper and hand against her skin was already so calming.
“You-” Apparently she hadn’t quite calmed down yet. She wiped the sweat from her face and the tears from her eyes.
“Breathe.” Again, a hushed whisper and she felt her breathing level out and begin to relax.
“You were there, and he was going to kill you. I tried to save you but I’m not strong enough, Sasuke.” Her voice was cracking, and she was at her lowest. The thought of not being strong enough made her feel worthless. The last thing she wanted to feel like, was to feel like she was back at the academy. A little girl who always needed to be saved.
“Sakura, it was just a dream. You’re strong now. It’s going to be okay.” Sasuke tried comforting the flustered kunoichi. He wasn’t good at this whole “comforting thing,” but he would try for her. The Uchiha draped an arm across her body and pulled her close to him. Again, the feeling of her body against his felt perfect. Almost like puzzle pieces fitting beside each other.
After what seemed like an eternity had passed, Sakura’s breathing was stable and quiet, and the pinkette was finally asleep. As Sasuke closed his eyes and snuggled in closely to her, he began to think about what she was trying to say. Who was going to kill him? Why wasn’t she strong enough? Maybe something was going to happen within the near future, and maybe she was right. Maybe it wasn’t going to be just a dream. The curse mark was obviously reacting to something, and as much as he wanted to deny it, and push it to the side, it needed to be dealt with. He couldn’t stand seeing her in pain anymore.
As he exhaled, he would let the thought go for the time being and bring it up with Tsunade once they returned to the Leaf. In the meantime, he would enjoy his alone time with Sakura. The Uchiha planted a kiss on her temple, and nuzzled his nose into her hair. The way she smelled was hypnotizing, and she always smelled so sweet.
“Sa-suke,” she quietly murmured, and he smiled to himself.
“Good night.”
xxx
Team 7 found that their trip back to the Leaf was rather quick, and to their surprise, uneventful. The last time they went to the Land of Waves, they had been attacked their first steps out of the gates of Konoha. Although that was a few years ago, and the shinobi were much stronger now, they pushed onward until the Leaf was finally in their view.
“Kakashi,” Sasuke called to their sensei. “I’ll take the report to Tsunade. I need to talk to her about something, anyways.”
“Ah. If you say so!” The silver haired shinobi called back with a raised thumb.
Sakura looked to her team mate with a questioning look. Sasuke didn’t seem to want to look at her at the moment though, so she gave up. As Team 7 entered the gates, they called out to the gate watchers and continued on their way. Saying their good byes to each other, Naruto headed to his apartment, and Kakashi to his. Sakura merely stayed and looked at Sasuke - a question was on the tip of her tongue, but she figured she wouldn’t push it.
“I’ll see you later.” She called to him as she turned on her heel and began to head to her own apartment.
“Ah.”
Why in the hell is he being so weird now?
Sakura clenched her fists to her sides and quickly made her way home. As she ascended to the rooftops, she figured this was the quicker route, as she just wanted to run a warm bath and relax. She shook Sasuke off of her mind and was now in the safety of her own apartment.
xxx
“Sasuke Uchiha.” The golden haired Hokage welcomed him into her office. Upon arrival, Sasuke bowed and marched to the front of her desk. As much as he wanted to go home and get cleaned up like the rest of his team, he figured this was far more important than that, at the moment.
“Lady Tsunade, there’s something that’s come to my attention, and I can’t turn away from it anymore.”
Tsunade’s eyebrows were now raised with curiosity, “… and that is?”
“Sakura’s curse mark. There’s something going on.” His voice was hushed.
“Yes, Uchiha. I’m aware that that’s something we need to keep an eye on.”
“That’s not all.” His eyes were now burning with frustration.
“Speak.” Tsunade’s tone was firm and confused now.