Starting over

#14 Corpse

Naruto POV

I woke up with a heavy feeling on my chest. When I opened my eyes I saw that Temari apparently had abandoned her sleeping bag and was now lying with her upper body on my chest and her head almost on my throat. She was smiling peacefully while asleep so that I decided not to wake her and instead went back to sleep myself. As I was slowly drifting away to the land of dreams I felt that Temari began to stir. I kept my eyes closed and pretended to still be asleep. She lifted her head slowly and looked around confused. When she realized where she was she tried to carefully get back to her sleeping bag. I listened to her shuffling and then how her breathing became more and more consistent until I was sure that she was asleep again. I then let myself really drift into sleep while looking at a smiling Temari.

After waking up I prepared a simple breakfast from some fruit which I had sealed in a scroll and a few wild herbs which we had found while looking for a suitable hideout. I just got back from outside where I grabbed some wood to make a small fire when I heard Temari beginning to wake up. I put the firewood in place and lit it with a small Katon-Jutsu while setting up a small pot to warm up some water. Temari groaned as she sat up rubbing one eye. "What time is it?", she asked while running through her hair with her fingers. "Just before noon.", I smiled at her and went to the two plates on which I had arranged the breakfast. I gave her one and sat beside her, while watching the water slowly heating up. "Thank you Naruto.", Temari said taking a bite out of an apple. "No problem. Well, we still have four days off. What do you want to do?", I asked while getting up, putting some tea leafs into the boiling water and diminishing the small fire underneath the kettle.

After breakfast with tea, we wiped the whole cave clean off any of the traces we left and went out. I remembered that we didn't take care of the dead Anbu that was probably still lying around in the woods. "I'll take care of the corpse from yesterday. Wait here", I stated taking off into the woods. "Hey! I'm not going to let you do all the work, I'll tag along.", countered Temari catching up to me and walking by my side. "Ok, but don't say that I didn't warn you. It is not a pretty sight.", I sighed before we entered the clearing where we had fought the Anbu.

Temari had to turn away as soon as we found the corpse of the Anbu. "Told you, it wouldn't be pretty.", I stated dryly while looking for anything useful in the pockets of the dead man. The body was almost completely burnt and the parts where there was still a bit of skin left were covered in dirt and blood. After a minute Temari had accustomed herself with the sight but still refused to touch the body. I just shrugged and continued looting the corpse.

After searching the corpse from head to toe I had found some Kunai, a few small scrolls which I didn't want to open without having them checked for traps first, a small bag with coins and most importantly the mask of the fallen Anbu. I grinned as I sealed the stuff away and stepped away from the corpse. "Would you like to have the honor of burning him?", I asked Temari who had not made a sound since we had arrived at the battle site. "Yeah, I'll do it.", Temari said, with determination in her eyes although her voice betrayed her insecurity. She made a few handsigns and set the body on fire. She let out a sigh ,turned around and walked out of the clearing. I followed her after making sure that the body was completely turned to ashes and soon caught up with the blonde kunoichi.

Suddenly she stopped and turned around to look at me worriedly. "How did you manage to burn him like that? I mean, he was almost burnt to a crisp.", she asked standing in front of me. "Well, Kurama had a bit to do with that.", I admitted, scratching the back of my head. "Kurama?", Temari asked, looking confused. "Oh, right... You don't know him by that name. I mean the Kyuubi, my bijuu.", I clarified earning a shocked look from Temari. "You let your bijuu take control? Why would you agree to something like that? What would have happened if you didn't get the control back?", she screamed at me. I grabbed her by the shoulder to calm her down before answering her question. "First of all, I trust Kurama, he would never try take control without me wanting him to. Second it was the only way that I could ensure that you were safe, because the Anbu was to strong for me to fight alone and i didn't want to leave you behind, since you were knocked out.", I tried to explain. Temari just weirdly looked at me and den surprised me with a hug. "Thank you and sorry for screaming at you.", she mumbled in my shoulder.

When she let go of me she looked at me questioning. "So , what do we do now? We still have three more days to waste until we have to be back in Suna.", the blonde kunoichi asked while letting her eyes wander over the surrounding trees. "Well, i mean we said that we would go to a spa, we still could go to one... then we didn't even lie to the guards.", I suggested earning a smile from Temari. "Sounds good.", she answered smiling at me, before we went into the trees while deciding which Spa we would go to.