Selfish Desire [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 34: You're Mine

Third Person's P.O.V

"Hm?"

Reina's head shot up almost instantly, throwing her gaze straight to Itachi who just emitted the subtle noise just now. She inquired curiously, "What's the matter?"

With his eyes bandaged, he replied, "It seems... Naruto, Kakashi, and the others have just returned."

"Them? Where were they before this?" Reina almost hastily moved closer to her childhood classmate, "Wait. Is Ayuda with them?"

The grim silence that Itachi gave her afterward answered her question, causing her to feel an instant disappointment. The older Uchiha informed nonetheless, "No. But it seems like they had a battle moments ago. They also have brought Sasuke's sensory teammate with them."

Reina's eyebrows furrowed questioningly, although her eyes widened in astonishment and bewilderment upon hearing that. A flash of determination danced across her brown eyes as she inquired him, "Where are they now?"

"Approximately two kilometers away from the Konoha's main gate, on the clear trail heading towards the village," answered the older Uchiha.

"I'll be right back," stated Reina solemnly before she rushed out of the dining room and sprinted across the forest towards her destination.

Her arrival was totally unexpected that Naruto and the rest of the company were staggered by her sudden appearance in front of them. Now located on the main trail used regularly to head to Konoha, they could all see the questioning state of Reina's bandaged face as plain as the blue sky. The first thing that came to their mind upon seeing her would be that she looked as if she had been beaten to a pulp moments prior to this.

"R-Reina-san?!" stammered Naruto who found it challenging to recognize her due to her current bandaged state, "Is that you?!"

Kakashi's next question confirmed Naruto's suspicion, "Reina, what are you doing here?"

Right on cue, a black crow flew down and rested atop the brown-eyed girl's shoulder. The latter responded gravely, "Do you guys got a clue about my sister's whereabouts?"

The faces belonged to Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi turned sour in an instant. It was none other than them who had last seen the missing girl whose location became a mystery to the others. Pure disappointment and guilt filled them to their very core upon realizing that they failed to rescue Ayuda from the hands of Sasuke. They had to take a short while to comprehend that Kaito and Kazuki must be feeling just as awful when they had the same failure long ago.

Now that they had reunited with Kiba, Sai, and Rock Lee who participated on this journey to assist Sakura on her solo quest – which was to get Naruto to stop tiring himself in chasing after Sasuke and also to deal with the latter by themselves – the three of them still could not bring themselves to apprise them about what happened to Ayuda. Despite that, they decided to disclose to them once they return to their village. But it seems like they have to tell them all about it sooner than they all foresaw.

"Ayuda... she..." Naruto's voice trailed away as his head hung low in apparent shame and remorse. Sakura did the same gesture while Kakashi merely closed his eye in obvious guilt.

All eyes turned to them, excluding Karin Uzumaki. She was currently being held on a piggyback by Kakashi and, despite being their hostage to be interrogated later, she could not deny that she was pleased to be treated so kindly. Her bright crimson eyes looked down on the ground with her mind filled with a sight she saw of both Sasuke and Ayuda that she found quite endearing.

It was of Sasuke holding the unconscious purple-eyed maiden in his arms – one around her waist and the other cradling her head. This transpired during their attack on the Five Kage Summit and right after the ravenette had knocked Ayuda out in an attempt to snap her out of her hypnotized state. His face was very close to hers that his chin pressed against her temple. But, from Karin's point of view, it looked as if Sasuke had his lips brushed against the side of her forehead.